by Jamie Hawke
“That thing was a bitch to kill,” Cheri recalled.
“Or destroy, since you can’t really kill something that isn’t actually alive,” Erupa chimed in. “Right?”
“Complicated,” I said, not wanting to get into that. It was true that androids weren’t technically alive, but the powers of supra tech were complicated, and then there was that android that went around with Breaker, now… and I had felt her emotions. Like I said, complicated.
The ships appeared in the distance, and I realized they were stalling above, waiting for their reinforcements. Nodding at them, I conveyed this to Hinru. She scrunched her nose, glared up, and then pulled out a blaster and fired a golden beam. It missed, but sent the message that we were ready for the fight at hand.
Others began shooting, too. A couple of Kabear’s supers leaped into the sky to attack from up there, and a moment later the ships were on us, bounty hunters descending to join the fight. Not a large force, I noted, and wondered where the rest of the hunters were. Still, there were enough to give us trouble.
We weren’t fighting together with Kabear and his side, exactly, but we were fighting against the same enemy and, at least for the moment, not fighting each other.
As I shot a bounty hunter from the sky, I ran over to Malaia and Kabear. “We need to get the signal out there before this other force arrives or we’ll be in trouble.”
Kabear simply grunted and went back into his hut while we shot and dodged for cover. When he emerged again, he was carrying an array of explosives and began lobbing them up at the enemy. Explosion after explosion ripped through the hills, and his fighters were also proving useful.
I worked my way over to my team, where we found a secluded area under a rock outcropping to move about and lure hunters to their deaths. Kabear ran past, shifting into a bear and taking out two hunters at once, then going back to himself as he entered a building for more explosives.
“If he wasn’t an ass, he’d be a good one to have on our team,” Erupa noted.
“Or I could just learn how to shift into a bear,” Cheri said, ducking around a rock as an explosion rocked the mountain and sent debris flying. “Can’t be that hard, right?”
“Give it a try,” Tink replied with a laugh.
An attacker flew in with fire shooting out from his back like wings, going straight for Mer. I was about to step in when she leaped, transformed, and brought him down into a puddle that was gathering at the edge of the rocks. Apparently, the water, even when only rain, amplified her powers because she had him pinned down and was snarling as she sunk her teeth into his face and began tearing it to shreds.
“Ouch,” Hinru said, seeing this, but shrugging. “And also, badass.”
The monks were holding their own, but a group of Malaia’s followers had split off and I saw that they would be in trouble if we didn’t get to them.
“I’m going to bring them back here,” I said to Erupa and Cheri. “With me?”
“Of course,” Erupa replied.
“Fucking A,” Cheri added, sword up and at the ready.
Three hunters were doing the brunt of damage, already dropping two of the locals since we had turned our attention on them. A shot from my pistol took out one of them. Erupa used shadow strike and took out another.
“Save some for me!” Cheri said, running over and shouting for the attention of the third. It didn’t work, though, because he had seen Erupa standing close and turned, opening up with his rifle. A barrage of bullets tore through her, or would have if she weren’t capable of her shadow ability to let them through, a skill she had been upgrading.
Still, it pissed her off and she snarled while shadow-striking him as well.
“What the fuck?” Cheri said, coming to a stop and angrily slicing a hunter’s head off who had tried to come at her from the left. “That’s bullshit!”
“He shot me!” Erupa countered.
“It doesn’t count if the bullets go through you.” She frowned, blocked a strike from another hunter and took a punch in the face, barely feeling it as she plunged her blade into the attacker’s belly. “I mean, if they don’t do any damage. They count if they go through you and leave a bunch of holes.”
“You can have that one,” Erupa said, indicating a large guy with double flamethrowers about to torch the crowd.
“Thanks!” Cheri threw her sword so that it punctured one of the flamethrower tanks. A second later he tried to shoot and instead blew the fuck up. Cheri reached out her hand and the sword flew back to her, and she gave a curtsy as if she had just given us all a show.
“Watch your ass!” Tink shouted, flying past and slamming into someone as she went big, then flew up and hitting some flying hunters with pixie dust. One fell out of the sky, instantly dead, the other started screaming about deadly enchiladas, or some such shit.
Cheri flipped up her skirt, saluting as if her ass was a face, and said, “You watch it for me.”
I couldn’t help but note that she didn’t have panties on. She winked at me and said, “I figured, in case we needed a quickie out here.”
My laughter caused a hunter to turn my way in confusion, which cost him his life. Or her, as I couldn’t tell with all the robes and armor on that one. My level increased to eight, and in the action I quickly selected an ability I was certain would come in handy—one that let me push thoughts, or… orders? With this, I could share command at will, and that could come in very handy indeed.
I turned to shoot as Erupa ushered the group toward the rocks, when a whistling sound caught me off guard. I looked up in time to see the gold blast, the connection, and half the village explode.
The force of the blast threw me to the ground and I came up, rolling and working to heal anyone nearby in any way I could. Others were reacting, shouting. Erupa vanished, appearing a moment later on one of the Reapers’ backs, spiraling downward since he couldn’t hold her and was struggling, until the two slammed into the rocks and tumbled the rest of the way.
Shit, I had to get to her. I was up, ears ringing and charging over as another blast hit. This time, Kabear went flying past me in bear form. He hit the building to my right and collapsed the wall, transforming back to human as he slumped to the ground. I glanced up to see Erupa on her feet and fighting again, so instead turned to Kabear and grabbed him, dragging him with me as I shouted, “Cheri! Hinru!”
Tink was the first to reach me, others following close behind.
“We need to send the signal,” Malaia said, joining her daughter with a group of monks and Eloise. “Form a wedge! Get us to that building, there!”
They did as she ordered and we moved out, shooting and forming shields. Erupa and I dragged Kabear’s semi-conscious form. One Reaper had fallen somewhere, thanks to Erupa. The was still in the sky. He came at us with a strike that Hinru and Erupa were able to repel, then landed and came right for me.
I had to release Kabear, but was pleased to see the man up in bear form a moment later, tackling the Reaper for us.
“The signal!” I shouted at Kabear, and hit the Reaper with enough volts to barbecue a whale.
Kabear growled, returned to human form, and set off the last of his explosives in a strike that sent two enemy ships careening down into their own forces. Without another look my way, he took off, plowing into a couple other fighters, while I was forced to defend myself against a hunter who had made it in from my left.
“We need him,” Hinru said. She and Malaia took off after him.
I glanced around, caught Cheri’s gaze, and motioned for her to join me. We charged after them. More fighting, more blood and explosions, and finally we had him, backing up against the building we needed to get into.
“We’ve lost,” Kabear said, eyes wild with fury, blood seeping from various wounds along his torso.
“Not if we send the signal,” Hinru replied.
Malaia took his hand and stared into his eyes. “We have to defeat them. Let us.”
Kabear looked defiant, his emoti
ons simply putting up a wall, but then the wall crumbled. He nodded, indicating a back wall.
“In there?” Malaia asked.
“Get me to it, you’ll have your signal.”
17
Amid a barrage of attacks out there, ground shaking and people screaming, we heaved Kabear up and dragged him to the far wall. He placed his hand on the stone and it faded, giving way to a sunken room within. Following the stairs down, we turned to another set of stairs that led us into a room of electronics, monitoring systems, and more. None of it seemed to fit in a place like this.
“If I do this,” Kabear wheezed, clutching his gut. “You fucking obliterate them, got it?”
“You know we will.”
Cheri glanced at me, then turned back to him with eyes full of spite. She really hated the idea that he was helping us at all, but knew this needed to be done.
“The other warlords might choose to ignore the call,” Kabear said, pushing off to move the last few steps on his own, stopping at a system of scanners and a holographic screen he used to input orders. “But I doubt it.”
With that, he scanned first his hand, then his eyes. He hit confirm, then turned to us.
“Done?” I asked.
“The signal is sent, and…” He leaned back against the panel, coughing up blood. “I’d say I’m about done, too.”
“In that case…” Cheri grinned, pulling out her sword.
“Lady—” Malaia started, but Kabear grunted, waving her off.
“It’s fine,” he said.
“Do you mind?” Cheri stepped up to him, sword out and at his gut. “Since you’re dying anyway, and you did kill someone who was once close to me… Mind if I end it?”
“That’ll help you move on?” Kabear asked, then wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Uh-huh.” She smiled wide, waiting for his response and totally ignoring the look of distaste from Malaia.
“I… led a horrible life,” Kabear admitted. “One for which I deserve many deaths, much worse than this one. It would be an honor to help in your quest for revenge.”
He spread his one remaining arm, reclining fully now.
I expected Cheri to show compassion, to say something along the lines of “Aw, you spoiled the fun.” Instead, she gave a giddy laugh and sliced him open. Guts spilled out, and she giggled, then stepped in and sliced into his neck. As he collapsed to the ground and she pulled her blade free, she spun, gave me a wink, and walked toward the exit.
“Guess I’m still a bit psycho,” she said, pausing to give me a kiss. “I’m so lucky to have someone who loves me anyway.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“What now?” I asked.
“Fight, get out of here… To the Hermites.” Hinru went to the door, which was starting to fill back in at the edges, like mist that was gradually setting to become solid. “And hurry.”
We all moved out. In the next room, we found three hunters who tried to get us with a claymore and modified elemental pistols, but we were ready and quickly turned them into piles of blood and goo. Sorry-not-sorry. We had places to be, lives to live.
I pushed out with a morale boost to our side, the opposite to the enemy, and we charged out to reconnect with the monks. We had the signal out there, meaning we would have allies in this fight—if everything Malaia said was true, now it was just about seeing if we could open the gate and actually control those monsters from the other side.
Eloise had two guys held up in some sort of beam, and ripped her hand across in a way that sent their bodies into pieces. Releasing the gore, she turned, about to send that beam our way until she saw that it was us.
“Tell me it’s done,” she said.
“Done, and ready to move out,” Hinru replied, but glanced up. “I can pull up the Gold Reapers’ broadcast, too. See what we’re in for.” She did her trick with the purple from the planet again. An image of a repeating broadcast rose, where the other Gold Reapers gave away our coordinates, saying we had returned and brought a traitorous force of monks with us. Essentially declaring war on the monks, and saying it was all or nothing.
“Every fucking hunter in the system is after us, even most of the ones who were with us earlier,” Hinru said, rubbing her chin. “Along with any of the raiders on this planet who have decided not to heed the summons. It was bad, but I’m thinking it’s getting worse.”
“Then we’ll have to hurry,” I said. If we could get to the gate at least, I would be able to see if it worked and know it wasn’t for nothing. Then again, we might open the gate only to die and let another evil out into the universe.
Knowing what we were up against and that we were about to make a long run back to the Hermite caves, I stepped forward to address the monks. My mind spun with the effort of trying to come up with something motivational to say. Fuck it. Instead, I filled them with adrenaline and excitement, shouting, “They may take our homes, but they will never take our balls!” Then, we charged, me using my newest ability to push the plan mentally out to my followers.
The fight wasn’t to the death or anything like that. Instead, we attacked all-out for about five seconds, then threw up all the shields we could and broke for the jump point. Malaia and the monks and all the rest were with us. The more of the enemy we left behind, the better. Dead or alive, it wouldn’t matter, because once the others responded to the signal we had just sent out, it would be time to dominate.
At the moment, all we had to do was travel back via a series of jump points and water travel, and we would be set. So, that’s what we did. At one point in the water travel, we came up to find the trinth monstrosity taking out what must have been a few enemy scouts. I gave it a cheer, shot down the last of its would-be attackers, and Hinru waved the creature on to follow us.
Wonderful, a voice in my head said, and I turned to see Cheshire darting about between the legs of Mer and Erupa.
“Where you been?” I asked, earning me a few curious looks from them. When they saw that
I was looking at the cat, they shared an amused look but kept running.
Fighting, like the rest of us. But I prefer to stay invisible when doing it.
That made sense.
Ahead, a warning came from Cheshire, and then the cat faded from sight.
My pistol in one hand, baton in the other, I whistled to warn the others, already sensing the aggression Cheshire must’ve been referring to. We crested a ridge next to the final jump point to find two fighter ships in mid-landing, several hunters already landed and setting up an energy-field barrier around our destination.
They turned in time to see the trinth plow into them, knocking over their energy barrier as it lit him up. Body parts and metal went flying, some from the enemy, some from the trinth, and then we were in the mix, taking a couple of shots but mostly sending a message to the enemy that they couldn’t fuck with us.
The monks had one ship contained, lashing it to the ground, while Malaia and Hinru hit the other with purple energy and blasts. My team and I went for the ground forces, engaging any stragglers from the trinth incident.
“That’s all you’ve got, motherfuckers?” Cheri shouted, skipping among the corpses and kicking a severed head so that it rolled down the incline. “Throw a real challenge at us!”
“I’d rather they didn’t,” I countered.
Heads up, Cheshire said, then there was a screech and a woman fell from a tree, the cat ripping at her throat and expanding momentarily to nearly my size. When the woman hunter went limp, Cheshire returned to normal form. That should be the last of them.
I nodded to Hinru, who stepped up to the jump point and prepared her rifle, covering the rest of the group. Eloise walked up, activated the jump point, and then we were through, almost to the caves.
No more problems found us on the way. The clouds overhead hung ominously but at least the storm was far behind us.
“Where are they?” Hinru asked as we stumbled over to the Hermite caves, now in ruins as we had last
seen them, but even worse.
“There!” I said, indicating the forms of several people coming our way in the colorful robes of the Hermites. As they drew closer, I could tell one was High Glotian, only… they weren’t just wearing their colors, but also… blood.
“It’s open,” High Glotian shouted when he was within earshot.
“What?”
“The gateway. It must not have been fully closed because… it’s sure as hell open.”
I stared, trying to make sure I’d heard him right, when the ground behind him fell away and took one of the Hermites with it, only to explode outward a moment later. From it came bursts of wind, swirling and moving back on themselves until we could make out what looked almost like a ghost or demonic spirit three times as tall as any tree. It wasn’t quite solid, but seemed to have a dark body within, along with a slight, blue glow at its center.
If the gateway was open, this one might not be alone. How the hell this had happened, I had no idea. But that wasn’t what mattered right now. We needed to contain this, and quick.
18
“How do we fight something like this?” Hinru shouted, turning to Eloise as if she might have an answer.
“We try and survive,” Eloise shot back.
The wind colossus, as I decided it was, moved out of the opening. Wind swirled, pulling up nearby trees and altering the course of the shots we fired at it, so that they didn’t land. Any that did, didn’t do much damage—shooting at the wind rarely does.
Again, I noticed that glowing, blue form on its chest. And for the first time, I had a theory about the core stones. They were connected to this—that same glow from the colossus could quite possibly be from a core stone. Holy shit, I was blown away by the realization. Assuming it to be true, I figured there might be some way to use the connection to my stone and bind it to his, or in some way affect this wind colossus. I’d at least die trying.
“Get me close,” I yelled, trying to be heard over the roaring wind.
