The Spatial Shard
Chapter Thirty-Two: … Set…

Javier caught Sharon around the waist and gently put her down on his board in front of himself.

“Force lines, Legion,” Falcon reminded her.

“Yeah,” she replied, shaking her head. “I could have called my board, too, dammit. Phalanx!”

“Hey, this is our first time at this,” Javier argued, feeling at fault for what had happened. “My blast was too powerful!”

“Off the board!” Sharon commanded as she pushed against Falcon’s chest. Talon was grabbed by the large red man, but he missed the nimble riders altogether.

“Let him have it, Talon!” Javier called out. “Go for blades!”

All three blades came out of their housings and the port and starboard blade cut deeply into Z’Gal’For’s hands. He grunted as he released the board. Z’Gal’For sought to blast the contraption, but once released, the flight jets engaged and it streaked after its master.

“These combatants are quite different,” he thought as he healed his hands.

“Follow me, Falcon,” Sharon said, firing a force line and swinging. The heads up display was good to tell them where they would wind up with their swings, so they were able to avoid smacking into the side of any buildings while remaining quick and agile. They both jumped to their boards at the same time.

“Nice moves, Legion!” Javier cried as he climbed up, staying on Sharon’s six.

“Thanks. See if you can get a sample off your blades,” she commanded. “No telling what we might be able to do with that in Five Pointes.”

“No kidding!”

“And that thing bleeds,” Sharon declared as they turned to face the red man who was just hovering in the air, waiting for them. “Which means that thing can be beat!”

“Like I don’t know we’re being suckered here,” Sharon thought as she took a sharp left turn. Falcon followed closely and they both avoided a red blur. Sharon could feel the wake of his pass and she had to hold out her arms to get her balance back. Both of them could hear a boom just as the figured passed by. Windows on both side of the street shattered and car alarms sounded off.

“The floating one’s a hologram!” Sharon declared. “The streak that just cut through here was our boy! Split up!”

“Stay loose, Legion!” Javier said as he squatted low, pulled up into a loop and dove for the ground.

“Nightmare, you are cleared to engage that feather-duster we blew off on arrival,” Sharon ordered. “Nightmare, acknowledge. Nightmare?”

“I wish I could say this was a surprise,” Rannis sighed as Nightmare landed. “But I’m not that young or that stupid.”

“What happened?” Oracle asked, running his hands over a console that was suddenly smooth and cold. “Where are we?”

“This looks like Qualcomm Stadium,” Fighter said as he looked around.

“It is, according to what I read before everything shut down,” Electra advised.

“Aries,” Telishe stammered. “Th-th-this is most… unexpected.”

“You mean when you snatched my craft from the skies, you did not sense me, hmmm?” Aries asked as he jumped off the craft and approached Telishe and the five that stood with her. “Or did you simply not care?”

“Don’t answer him!” Neekrum snapped. “He isn’t even recognized at our gatherings!”

“We’re a long ways off from any gathering here, boy,” Rannis warned. “And if you speak to her like that again, I’ve got an open wager you won’t see the next.”

Everyone on board Nightmare was surprised by the display of aggression coming from Rannis. Wilma thought it might have been an effect of all the regalia and Milania did not know what to think of it. While Gordon and Wayne were not in any way connected to each other, they both smiled under their helmets, hoping the aggression would become more than words.

Telishe shook her head and held up her hand toward Neekrum. “Please,” she pleaded as she turned to face Aries. “You know this is a research effort, don’t you? Neekrum’s argument about the prophecies of the Adquemlore.”

“The Adquemlore?!” Wilma thought, finally putting the pieces together and wanting to scream in delight as she did.

“Aye, I recognized all the trappings,” Rannis said plainly as he looked at the unannounced three. “I am in the midst of a bit of research of my own.” He smiled under his helmet and projected his thoughts to Wilma and Nightmare. Receiving his thoughts, Nightmare came back to life, but the engines and all visible functions remained offline. The head-up displays relayed to each crewman that the man just behind the pudgy fellow was a mercenary well known for his obsession for Tech; the two men behind him were probably androids.

“I thought you had given up your research,” she said.

“No,” Rannis argued. “I simply gave up on the popular beliefs of what the Sacred Pages were and are trying to tell us. And I don’t have time to converse with you while my wards are out there fighting that thing and his bio-form constructs.”

“You have the Shard again, don’t you?” Telishe asked.

“It was never mine the first time,” Rannis answered, turning to get back on Nightmare. “The same can be said now.”

“Restrain him!” Neekrum shouted.

“It’s about time,” Nogel Struman said as he threw a Binder at Aries. He did not normally take such jobs, but he was fascinated with the Earth-side of the Nexus and took great delight in the advantage his Tech always gave him. The Binder he threw was not the normal sort. It had eight tendrils, not four, and they were designed to flatten and expand, forming a cocoon around the target.

“Forgive,” Rannis whispered as he took a step forward, teleported, grabbed Telishe, teleported back and stepped away as she was encased in the Binder. He quickly deposited a Mind Scrambler on the wrappings to negate Telishe’s more than capable mental arts.

“Go away!” Rannis commanded, combining his voice with a telepathic order. Purgh teleported away, not knowing why he had enacted the talent. Once there, he also could not recall his point of origin.

“Care to try that with me?” Neekrum asked, taking a combative stance.

“Nightmare,” Rannis said and she came alive, powering the laser cannon first. Milania had already scanned to confirm Rannis’ suspicions. The two furthest back were indeed androids and Oracle did not hesitate to fire on both of them. One barrel fired and rocked the entire ship. One android was struck in the chest and soon withered into the blast while the other jumped high into the air to avoid the blast. The rear cannon moved quickly as Oracle tracked the android and shot it out of the sky.

Wilma came out of Nightmare at a full sprint, taken by the sensation of the moment. She drew her blade and ran toward the mercenary.

“Bad move, lady,” Nogel said as he drew two pistols and started firing.

Wilma did not break her stride as she spun and darted, always continuing down her path toward her target. The PEP unit of her suit could absorb as well as project and she caught each burst with blade, glove or boot. She was glowing by the time she reached the man and her blade cleaved the tops of his guns. She maintained her form and cleaved across his bandolier of weapons before punching his belt, destroying his controls and secondary batteries.

“Were those moves any better?” she asked as the man bit down hard and she could hear something in his mouth snap.

“Force line!” Wilma screamed as she turned and ran. She had time for two steps before she jumped away from the man as he fell into a portalway. She was being sucked in, and in the next instant she would have been on her way back to Five Pointes. A force line caught and wrapped around her left arm and she looked up to see Gordon standing behind his console, anchored by the grip of his other hand and the efforts of Milania. Eventually the door closed and she was dropped to the ground.

“That was the best move of all!” she huffed.

Front kick, straight punch, back punch, hand thrust, spin kick… Neekrum was in good form, but Rannis had yet to give ground or use anything other than his right arm to defend himself.

“You’ve been practicing,” Rannis noted, blocking two more attacks. “But you’re still too aggressive. You’re trying to make the moment instead of evolving within it.” He caught the next attack and twisted the arm until he heard a snap. “But then again, you’ve always thought that intellect is a lord and has no lords above it.

“Well then,” Rannis said, catching an attack from the other hand. “Pledge your fealty to ignorance!” His free hand touched the chest of the slender man and released a blue pulse of energy into his body. Neekrum just looked at the man who had made him look inept, and fell unconscious.

“Always thought Rannis was bad!” Gordon said softly. Rannis Etim noticed all eyes were on him and with their glares came questions he was not prepared to answer… not yet!

“Rannis, no!” Wilma shouted, but she could not stop him, and his effort was too powerful to thwart. A white light fell over the crew of Nightmare, and it settled in their minds.

“Nightmare says we missed out on a transmission from Legion,” Milania reported.

“Then we’d better get back there quick!” Aries said as he boarded.

“First you say I am a coach, and then you argue the play I call,” Rannis projected to Wilma. “Be glad I did not include you in the mind wipe.”

“Another time, Telishe,” Rannis yelled as Nightmare took off.

“Another time… Master!” she whispered.

Sharon accelerated her board and made another tight turn. Again she barely avoided the large red man who was moving too fast for her eyes to track.

“Falcon, be on the lookout from above and below,” she advised. “If I’ve got Red, you might just have the peacock!

“Or I might have both!” Sharon gasped as the Griffin swooped down on her.

“Low road!” she cried as she pushed off from Phalanx, reaching for her knife. She went over the clawing talon and wing of the Griffin while her board flew under the creature. Sharon touched her knife handle to her left forearm and released a force line, swinging her blade into the left shoulder of the Griffin. The black blade cut through the thick armored skin as naked steel would cut through the wind.

“Just call me the Goddess of War!” Legion cried out.

The wounded creature cried and was forced into a turn it did not want to make. It collided with its Master just before both bodies were blasted by Javier as he passed under them. They were both thrown up and apart from each other.

“I’ve got Super Chicken,” Sharon called out. “Stick and move on Red until I get there.”

“You got it,” Javier said as he turned to pursue his target, ready to fire his pistol a second time.

Legion moved in on her target as it looked to be seriously injured. Falling from the sky and unable to flap both wings, the Griffin saw its opponent approaching and waved its good wing toward her. It released eight feathers which quickly become small energy bolts. Sharon screamed as she did a barrel roll, avoiding the attack.

“Looks like I need to finish this fast!” Sharon thought, firing a force line. It wrapped around the neck of the creature and Sharon started to spin, slinging the Griffin like it was an unwilling participant in the hammer throw. The spin started off horizontal but quickly became vertical and Legion threw the creature to the ground. The moment she released it, she fired energy beams to burn its armor and keep it from pulling up. The Griffin slammed into the street and nearly went through the layer of asphalt.

“God help me!” Sharon said as she jumped from her board and landed on the chest of the creature, driving her knife into its chest. There was a spark of black light and the Griffin cried out as it slowly reverted back to simple bio-matter that began to quickly evaporate. All the readings Sharon was receiving from her helmet told her the thing was dead. She cleaned her blade and returned it to its scabbard before she broke into a run and jumped as her board passed under her. She took to the skies, headed for Javier’s location.

“Sidewinder, Primo, check in!”

“So why do you do it?” Princess asked Michael, going over the latest batch of data while Samantha had them on radio silence. She had further ordered them to seize a satellite they could use to maintain surveillance and to keep the rooftop sensor pod as secretive as possible. “Eh, and there goes Makeen. Refueled and ready to go. I tried to tell him this thing wasn’t going to linger on for too long. Boss has already had a couple of run-ins, and no Makeen to speak of.”

“They knew the risks when they flew out there that fast,” Michael replied as he reviewed his data. “Hmmm, before that pulse that supposedly spotted Valkyrie, there were two other energy spikes… fairly close to each other.”

“Patel!” Princess snapped. “C’mon, Papa-san. You could be pulling down long bread anywhere else on the planet, working for bosses who would not dare to make you angry. Why here?”

“To put not too fine a point on it,” Michael answered as he moved to another console. “I stay with Vey because of her love of the abyss.”

“Okay… not too clear a point either, but okay,” Princess commented.

“You know what you come to when you run through all the things you know? What is at the edge of reason, the edge of what we can conceive?”

“Britney Spears?” Princess guessed.

“The abyss!”

“To-may-to, to-mah-to,” Princess replied.

“Vey charges in where most are afraid to even look,” Patel explained. “I want to be there when she finds all of her answers. That is why I am here.”

“Boy, has she got this guy snowed!” Princess thought. “The smarter they are, the harder they fall!”

“And you?” Patel asked. “After what you’ve seen, why are you still in that chair?”

“Fear!” Princess said flatly. “Fear I won’t be there when the next E=mc2 is discovered.” Michael nodded and chuckled, looking up from his work briefly.

“You two want to get a room?” Samantha asked.

“Boss, you’re back!” Princess cried. “No… me n’ Mike just need a lab and some privacy. We will have the satellite in twenty-seven seconds and… then… whoa!”

“Try to share, Princess!” Samantha barked.

“I was running a program to match up all A/V feeds with the energy signatures we’ve picked up this morning,” Princess explained.

“Okay, no more jokes,” Samantha thought, “this girl gets a raise!”

“And I think I’ve got something you might want to see for yourself. And now that we’ve got an eye in the sky, here it comes.”

There was a bit of a delay as Vey watched the feedback. Princess did not simply wait for a response. She started furiously at her console again, trying to anticipate what her boss would ask for next.

“Akondalatti, you’re a genius!” Vey announced. “Where’s Makeen?”

“He just left the pump and he’s on his way to you. ETA, three minutes.”

“Tell me you’ve got a fix on this target?” Vey hoped.

“City grid has taken some hits,” Princess explained. “… but I’ve got it. Sending you the coordinates.”

“Received,” Vey said. “Flight pack just hit the halfway point, so be ready to initiate the self-destruct sequence. Give Makeen the same coordinates and let’s hope I can stall it out until he gets here.”

“Leaping Lizards!” Michael screamed and Princess almost laughed until she saw he was not joking. “Valkyrie, one of the two creatures was just terminated!”

“Yes!” Samantha hissed.

“Negative, not yes!” Patel noted. “An energy wave was sent from its coordinates to-”

“Big Red!” Vey said in disgust.

“Negative!” Patel quickly replied. “To the other creature!”

“Ouch, that is really not good!” Princess added. “Guess where your coordinates are?”

“I need to read my horoscope more often,” Vey said as she increased her speed.

“Legion, this is Primo,” Imogene answered, feeling pretty good about herself. “Wittle puppy went and got himself wedged in a walley chasin’ affer Sidewinwer!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Sharon replied.

“Never kid a Legion, that’s my take on things,” Imogene said, watching Cullen do another fly-by, firing his PEP, which was set to deliver an electrical charge, into the creature. He would wait until it looked like one of the heads was trying to concentrate. The creature was three meters off the ground and unable to get any leverage. Imogene’s job was to create force fields wherever it tried to bite the corners of the building, and Cullen said he would beat the thing into submission. Imogene did not like the idea, but there was no denying the thing was losing some of its kick and nearly all of its bite.

“It’s a little early but we’ve got one mean bird ready for Thanksgiving. Falcon’s dealing with the red man; I’m about to lend a hand,” Sharon reported.

“Sounds like you’ve got your hands full,” Imogene surmised. “We… um, hey, Legion? Did you say you took out the Griffin?”

“Affirmative.”

“Okay, then that explains why our beastie is growing wings, right through the buildings pinning it in. Sidewinder, climb!” Sharon could hear the sound of a very angry monster and the crumbling of concrete and mortar. “Gotta go, Legion. We took this thing down before, let us readjust and get back at it. Watch your back!”

“Sound advice,” Z’Gal’For said softly as the weight being carried by Phalanx jumped up over one hundred ninety kilos.

“Bull’s-eye,” Sharon said as the large man’s hands came through the chest of her hologram. Z’Gal’For had been in many battles, and it was obvious he was dealing with a warrior-born!

“Made you look!” Sharon said as she swung around the corner of a building, her feet stamping into his chest. There was very little physical power to speak of (though her momentum more than made up for it), and he was delighted he had at last discovered the chink in her armor. But the boots delivered an energy burst which sent him flying as it fouled nearly a third of his armor’s electrical systems. “On his way to you, Falcon!”

Two force lines caught the Custodian’s ankles, delivering a massive charge to his body the moment they made contact. He grunted in pain. “So sorry, no postage, no delivery!” Javier swung their opponent up into the air and shot him with the pistol once again.

He was still spinning from the blast when Sharon flew down and hammered him on the head with her board. Rannis’ claim about the boards was put to the test. Sharon’s board came to a dead stop with a sample of the creature’s blood left on the chassis; the large red man was coming down a lot faster than the speed at which Javier had thrown him up. He tumbled all the way down to a parking garage and his body went through all five floors before colliding with the foundation.

“Times like this I wish I had a grenade,” Sharon said, not wanting to go down to check the site.

“Good thing that’s my job, then,” Javier said. “Maybe you should set up someplace with that rifle.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sharon said, looking for an appropriate place to make a perch. “I’ll cover you. And remember, your first dodge should be to the north.” Javier gave a salute as he descended down into the city. He charged his left hand for force energy, but did not name the form to be used. Sharon smiled at his ingenuity.

“So, are we going to get any back-up?” Cullen asked as they sped down the street; he stayed to her right and a little lower than she flew.

“Not any time soon,” Imogene replied as she looked back. Three photon bursts rained down on the creature, causing it to crash into the street and tumble. From the sound of its cries, it was more angered than damaged. When it stopped and rolled over to its feet, it was struck with another volley, delivering five times the former yield. This time the creature was knocked down and wailed in pain.

“This morning’s ordinance was brought to you by Team Nightmare,” Wayne reported. “We had some technical difficulties earlier, but we’re back in the game.”

“Nice shot, Oracle!” Imogene cheered. “Knew you could do it! But Legion’s handling the Rotai. You guys need to help her and Falcon out, we’ve got animal control.”

“You got it, Primo,” Wayne replied. “Ride it, girl!”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Cullen said as the two watched Nightmare fly overhead. “The blind guy nailed the three-headed, winged chia-pet.” As if on cue, the Battler cried out as it once again mounted a charge. Imogene and Cullen started down the street away from the creature.

“You know something,” Cullen said, dodging eye beams that had obviously increased in power. “I’m thinking this thing just got its wings. Let’s see what he can do.”

“Good id- Sidewinder, someone’s drawing a lock on us,” Primo said, responding to an alarm in her helmet. “Split left!” Imogene commanded. As the two crossed paths, an energy blast just missed Sport.

“Kid’s quick,” Samantha said as she recharged the Thor Cannon. “Gotta love the surfboard approach. Never thought Edge would get to this side. And it looks like she has my mark!” Samantha ducked down behind the statue in the park as Imogene flew overhead. She was quick to turn, but she did not fly toward Samantha. She turned again and flew down a side street as the winged Cerberus chased after her.

“Looks like I’ve got a rival for her affections,” Samantha said as she was hit with a force line. By the time she looked down at the energy form, she was airborne and being dragged behind another blast board.

“Please observe the pilot has turned on the ass-kicking sign!” the young man yelled as he turned sharp and Valkyrie was slung hard into a wall and dragged. Cullen took on his Sidewinder namesake as he drifted from one side to another, smacking Vey into building fronts down the avenue.

“Shaken, not stirred,” he whispered as he powered his force line. His targeting cursor flashed white and Cullen stopped, throwing his luggage down the street and hitting the Cerberus in the back. Both bodies tumbled into a ‘T’ shaped intersection. Primo had already made her turn, but neither the strange woman nor the creature were able to follow as they smacked into the building that Imogene had coated with a force field.

“Oh, that had to hurt!” Cullen screamed.

“Somebody’s got to stand up for libraries,” Imogene said as she joined him.

They watched as the woman got up slowly and screamed as the left head of the creature bit down on her. Sparks flew as the large lupine shook her in its mouth and threw her against the force field. She was not moving and there looked to be blood splattered near where she struck the field.

“Things just got more serious,” Cullen remarked.

“I know,” Imogene agreed, drawing her blaster. “Time to take this thing out. Power up your best force field around your board and take point.”

“You’re pretty spooky when you take lead,” Cullen said as he drifted forward, powering up his blast board’s force field emitters.

“I don’t normally get this mad!” she responded in a cold tone. She took aim and fired three times, hitting all three heads, as the creature was still howling its victory over the woman. It glared at Cullen, the closest target, and growled.

“Did you just set me up?” Cullen asked.

“Sure did,” Imogene answered, holstering her weapon and dis-engaging the targeting computer in her helmet.

“Could use your help on this one, Nollie,” she whispered and under her helmet, Imogene’s eyes glowed a strong pink-purplish color. She increased her speed and drifted a little left of center of Cullen’s back. She chose not to climb… not yet anyway!

The creature yawped and all three heads fired at Cullen.

“Deflect it up!” Imogene yelled as she shot above Cullen and let Nollie guide her. She and her board were glowing as the three blasts struck the field Cullen had generated. The beam did deflect, after taking nearly eighty percent of the shield capacity. It arched up and just a little left of straight up and hit the belly of Imogene’s board where it was absorbed into Nollie. Imogene had her arms out straight from her sides, concentrating on the moment aboard Dreamchaser when she had caught the laser bolt. Imogene had flubbed it, but Primo would not have a lapse in concentration.

“Bad dog!” Imogene said through clenched teeth as she brought her hands together in front of her chest, her index fingers pointing at the creature. The collected energy was augmented, enchanted and released. A bright pink-purplish stream flowed from her hands and struck the chest of the creature which barely had time to scream before its entire body glowed pink and was reduced to simple bio-matter.

“Now that is what I am talking about!” Cullen screamed as he looked at the large column of smoke where the winged Cerberus had stood. He then looked at his board and noticed he needed a good buff job. “I know why Aries calls you Primo!”

Primo said nothing. Under the helmet, her eyes were closed as she steadied herself. The flash of what she had done had been seen for miles, she knew that. She also knew that Nollie had committed only half of the power it had absorbed. But the connection between them was down. It was either too tired or just as overwhelmed, but Imogene was not going to bother it just now.

Cullen screamed as he fell from his board, and it was only then that Primo heard the gunshots as a fighter jet passed overhead. Sparks flew from Cullen’s board and it too spun toward the street. It was losing power and Imogene wondered what the plane could have been firing to do damage to Rannis’ designs.

“You can always spot an amateur,” Samantha thought as she fired the Thor Cannon. It had taken so much damage it could only manage a thirty-one percent charge. “They stand still trying to figure out what is happening.” The blast struck the girl in the back and she was lifted off her board. “Got her!”

Imogene’s body flew up and back, but she landed on her board that had reconfigured itself to Simple Paddle configuration.

“Makeen, don’t lose that board!” Samantha ordered as she slowly got up to her feet. She was down to four percent power in the self-repair program. The force fields around her ribs would allow her to stand and move; she just had to deal with the pain. The plasma I-V had started and her body was beginning to tire. Without being told, Princess administered the adrenaline.

“Get in there and finish this, boss!” Princess commanded and Vey screamed through the pain to take flight.

Hovering above the ground, moving forward at a very slow speed, Javier inspected the debris of the parking garage.

“Times like this, I wish she had a grenade too,” he thought. “C’mon Falcon, stay with it! You’ve gotten a lot further than you thought you would.” The heads-up display showed movement to his left. Javier squatted low on his board and leaned to his right. He fired his gun just as the red man came up out of the debris on the right hand side.

“You and those tricks are getting predictable!” he shouted as he blasted the creature again, pushing him out of the eastern wall.

Z’Gal’For tumbled to a stop and quickly got up, wailing in rage, pain and frustration. His opponent came out of the structure and Z’Gal’For leaned forward, jumping to deliver another shoulder tackle. The young man flew to meet him in mid-leap and it was Z’Gal’For who gave against the vehicle the young man was riding. However, the shock of the collision was enough to knock his opponent off the board and the weapon out of his grip.

Javier gave a high-pitched cry as he fired a force line to his board and swung under it, charging his boots. The man had not stopped moving, but the cursor helped him aim his attack anyway. Power flowed through the force line and into his suit. There was a loud ‘thoom’ when his feet met with the large man’s chest. Windows for four blocks shattered from the pressure wave. Javier flew back from the point of impact, but not as fast as his target. He landed on his back and rolled to his feet, quickly jumping up to get on his board. He held up his right hand and a force line snatched his pistol off the ground.

Z’Gal’For went through two buildings before he lost consciousness, a signal was received by his armor and it reacted accordingly.

“Legion, we have a major problem,” Javier reported. “He’s down but I am-”

“Roger that!” Sharon said quickly. “I’m reading a massive power build-up, too. That suit of his is going to blow! We’ve got to get him out to sea.”

“On my way,” Javier said as he fired his force line. It dispersed before it could even touch the body. Javier looked at the pieces of debris around the fallen man that were beginning to melt and bubble. His body was also beginning to sink into the ground. “He’s too hot! There’s so much energy coming off of him, I can’t even get a force line around him!”

“Leave it to me,” Audrey said as she used air to grab Z’Gal’For’s body. Her armor was reading the failsafe, and she could no longer watch from the wings. The yield of the suit going off would reach Hawaii and that was just going westward. While she controlled air with one hand, the other hand tried to absorb the energy his suit was generating. Fortunately, the suit had its own devices for flight, and she would put the excess energy into that. It should be enough for her to get her friend out of the atmosphere.

“Looks like I’ve made my decision after all,” Audrey thought. She had watched the fight and the people in black were good… very good. But the fight only started after one of their team tried twice to talk to Z’Gal’For. While she could not make herself fight against the Rotai, the actions of the others made it difficult to fight with him.

Audrey took to the air and more windows shattered as she broke the sound barrier before she had even passed the tops of the taller buildings.

“What was that?” Sharon asked.

“Something finally going our way,” Javier answered as he tracked her. “But I don’t think she’s going to make it. Not according to what I’m reading on my screens.”

“Then we better hope she doesn’t get to the speed of light,” Sharon said as she changed the yield output on her rifle. The power nullifier might be able to stave off the explosion long enough for the woman to succeed in getting the man out of the atmosphere and get herself clear of the blast. The thought that she would also be nullifying the woman’s powers crossed her mind, so she knew she needed to time it correctly.

“Daddy, you taught me well, but this is so out of the box!” Sharon thought. “Takata, this is one time you could just do a little later than normal.” She activated her tracking scope just as Nightmare flew by her perch. It too was headed for the upper atmosphere.

“What is she trying to do?!” Wilma asked, watching Sharon aim skyward.

“Save lives,” Rannis said as he stepped away from the console. He had seen the readings of the power coming off the armor. Already it was enough to make ten Nightmares space worthy and it was not done building. “Not that it will work. She’s all yours, Fighter!” Rannis dropped to his knees, stunned by the powerful mind bolt delivered by Tempest.

“Looks like that cup of tea will have to wait,” Wilma projected. “I can’t let you do what I see in your mind. You’re not done, Rannis Etim! Between the two of us, they need you more!” Wilma thought as she removed her weapons belt and placed it in her chair.

“And this might come as a surprise, Sharon,” Wilma thought as she faded from sight. “… but one just doesn’t wander into the soul like yours and come away unchanged… or be silly enough not to leave a bit of themselves behind.

“You have the knife and scabbard. That comes close to all I have given you. When you find the rest, you’ll find a possible direction you might take and a request from an old hag of a woman who has come to love you. I am proud of you, Sharon Thaxton! My Legion indeed!”

Audrey could feel the heat through her suit at a time when she thought she might start feeling cold. Her suit warned she was about to receive fatal doses of radiation. The armor had done what it could, but it further advised that it could not keep the radiation out for more than five seconds. Then seepage would begin. She was also fifteen seconds from a safe release point.

“I love you, Baxter,” she thought as she returned her focus to her objectives, releasing her hold on her life.

“Then, dear, I would say he is a very lucky man,” Wilma projected as she landed on the Rotai’s chest, projected a power orb directly in front of their current flight path, and knocked the woman away just as Legion’s nullifier round struck. With the speed they were traveling, Audrey was not in the range of effect of the blast.

Sadaga could instantly feel the cold of space on her back as she could feel her flesh at her front begin to cook. The nullifier round had indeed afforded her a few precious seconds. Her training was all she had to divert the numbing cold and the burning heat. In the blink of an eye Sadaga could feel no pain, but she could feel her body dying.

“This is not how I imagined the passing of a Scholar,” she amused herself.

The two bodies passed through the power orb and suddenly Sadaga had a sliver of energy; enough to finish her aims or to flee to safety! At this range only the courageous woman and the crew of the Nightmare were in danger of the radiation from the forthcoming blast… provided all the blast would release was radiation. For Sadaga, there was no option; she teleported herself and the body of the waking Rotai into deep space as he regained consciousness. Their eyes met, and with no mental defenses intact, Sadaga came to know the thoughts and memories of the Rotai in an instant.

“Damn!” she realized.

Gordon leveled off Nightmare and looked into the sky which was beginning to turn black from their perspective. Nightmare had not been designed for prolonged exposure to outer space, but Wayne and Milania were using their PEP units to pressurize and warm the interior. Fighter saw the flash… Gordon Schultz screamed! He fired thrusters and quickly put Nightmare into a dive.

Sharon looked to the sky after receiving the telepathic message. The moment she saw the small white spark of light in the middle of the blue sky, she knew… Man down! She fell to her knees, but she did not make a sound.

“What’s wrong?” Javier said as he flew up to her perch.

“Nothing we can fix,” she replied, harshly grasping her rifle as she stood up. “Let’s get a fix on Sidewinder and Primo.”

“Sidewinder is down but alive. I’m reading the same condition for Dust Devil. Primo is on the edge of unconsciousness, but she is on Sport and it is moving out like a bandit. Headed our way!”

“Falcon, you are go for intercept!” Sharon shouted as she moved to the appropriate side of the building to set up another perch. She quickly put another round into the chamber and configured it for a piercing blast. Javier had no questions as he jumped on his board and dropped to Simple Paddle configuration. He had distance to make up and he did not know how much time he had.

Makeen leveled off the Gray Sable and tracked the signal that was Vey’s target. The small board was surprisingly fast and highly elusive.

“I should not be surprised,” he thought. “Anything Vey is chasing should be of worth and note.” He disengaged his targeting computer and readied another burst of the electromagnetic shells. It seemed to be the only thing slowing the Edgers down.

He fired his guns, but the board shifted and turned at the very last moment, avoiding the barrage.

“How is that possible?” he thought as he banked hard. The board was flying in-between buildings and making turns too sharp for a plane to match. Makeen had to pull up and have Princess maintain the lock on the target.

The controls of the plane jerked as his port engine burst into flames. A blast ripped through the manifold and the tail of the plane. Makeen started crash-landing procedures while trying to level the plane. He had managed to turn the plane toward the Pacific when a second shot all but tore his left shoulder off of his body. Afzal Makeen Shamir nearly lost consciousness and the cockpit was covered in blood. The only thing he knew to do was to pull the eject handle. The canopy flew away from the main body and Makeen’s chair shot up out of the fighter just as another shot caused the cockpit to explode. The nose of the plane angled down and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.

“Timely jump,” Sharon said, reloading her weapon. “Fire on my people and I will make you curse the day you were born!” The alarms in her helmet cued Legion’s armor. She was spared from receiving the direct blast of the Thor Cannon, but the explosion threw her well away from her perch. She landed in the middle of the roof. Her head was reeling and she could not move.

“Legion, I got Primo,” Javier reported as he met up with Sport. He took Primo’s body off the board and laid her on the ground. “Wow, she’s got her board already programmed with evasive maneuvers. Cool! Leave it to Primo, right? Legion? Legion?!”

“What’s wrong with Legion?” Imogene strained to speak.

“You just sit tight,” Javier said quickly. “Catch your breath and clear your head. It looks like you and Sidewinder took serious hits.”

“Where’s Sidewinder?”

“As soon as Nightmare gets here to pick you up, I’m going after him,” Javier answered.

“I’ve been called many things,” Vey said as she landed. She put the rocket chair down and let Makeen get back to the business of saving his arm. The few nano-techs she could give him would keep him from bleeding to death, but not much else. “But a nightmare is new, even for me!”

“Falcon, you’ve got to get out of here!” Imogene whispered. She recognized the voice and felt a fear she had not known before.

“Princess, do we have a satellite lock on that shooter?” Vey asked aloud.

“Affirmative,” Akondalatti’s voice came over a speaker on the suit.

“Launch rockets!”

“Legion, get out of there now!” Javier said. Samantha looked at the rooftop that was still smoldering and she shook her head.

“Maybe you need to yell louder,” Vey suggested.

“Sport, get Falcon to Legion now!” Primo commanded and before either Javier or Samantha could react, the blastboard flew into Javier and bore him aloft. Makeen was tempted to give chase, but Vey had already waved him off. Given the condition of her suit, Makeen was not about to argue.

“Wow! Now that’s a board!” Samantha admitted as Imogene got to her feet. “And you think you’re ready to fight, don’t you? How classic is this? Well come on, hero. Come to Momma so I can bring you back down to Earth.”

Imogene charged toward the woman, firing force blasts that the older woman’s shields blocked effectively. Her jumping sidekick was side-stepped and Vey winced in pain as she hammered down on Imogene’s leg. There was little pain to speak of, but the ECM unit Vey had attached to Primo’s suit had the desired effect.

“Let’s see if it’s the clothes that make the woman,” Vey said as she lunged forward, punching Primo in the stomach. The girl doubled over in pain and fell to her knees. “I suppose that was a tad unfair. Seeing as how your suit’s on empty and mine’s got a quarter tank left. I might have even broken a rib, but at the very least, you’re easier to deal with.”

“Boss, we lost target-lock,” Princess reported. “Those suits of theirs are something else!”

“Tell me about it,” Samantha said as she looked at the roof. “Blast the entire roof then,” Samantha ordered. “She’s in there somewhere.”

“Roger that, rockets are reacquiring.”

“You know what, Princess,” Vey said as she called for Avery’s return. “With a hero on the way, I’ve got a better idea.”

“That makes two of us!” Primo yelled as she created a portalway. She, Vey and Makeen fell into it and were gone.

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