Issue Y2-14 Death Stalks the Gods
~*~
THUMPER aka Tamara Bond
Man if you'd asked me a year ago if I'd be in a space ship somewhere around the orbit of Jupiter fighting a pitched battle for the survival of Earth, I'd probably laughed in your face and asked you what drugs you were doing. Then, I'd have dumped your ass as a druggie loser. I've had enough of that crap in my life.
If you'd told me that I'd be almost six feet tall, all curvaceous and look like Bugs Bunny's idea of a perfect date, I'd have asked you how soon can I start. You see unlike a lot of ferals. I LIKE what has happened to me. Let's just say that before I became Buster Rabbit's wet dream, I was less than attractive. Butt-ugly would have been a better term. Bad skin, bad eyes, bad teeth, and a bit of scoliosis were just some of the minor problems I faced. It's not easy being born a crack-baby. My cold-burn was a blessing. So what if I now have rabbit ears and a tail? I'm beautiful and if you've got a problem with that, I'll kick your ass into next week sideways.
As for kicking ass, that was what we were doing now. I had no problems charging out of that elevator toward the jaguar guys with lasers. They at least didn't smell like a snake. God I can't abide by snakes. They give me the willie-wee-willikers. I think it's the rabbit in me. Also, I'll admit to needing just a little anger therapy. I just lost my grandmother. So I was spoiling for a fight.
We were charging into a line of jaguar men set up in a half circle facing the elevator. They all were armed with those nasty laser guns that singed the crap outta my fur. Behind them was some guy who looked like he stepped out of that bad Mel Gibson movie, Apoclyp-something-or-another. He was big, he was built like Kevin Sorbo on a good day, and he was only wearing some kind gold lame skirt. In each hand, he held a stone knife. Come on people, you've got star-frigging-ships. What's with the stone age weapons?
They'd set up what Commander Erikson called a kill zone- an area designed so they could kill anything in it. Well, me and my friends weren't ready die yet. I hit the deck a running, and leaped straight over their freaking heads. I caught the big guy by surprise when I plowed into him with a series of repeating snap kicks and screaming, “Flying bunny kick!”
I know I know. All my teammates keep telling me that I shouldn't yell out what I'm doing. It gives away the move, but call it my personal style. Earandil has his whole elf-lord thing going, and trust me, it's cute. Psi-Claw is our big brother type- damn we gotta get that boy laid. Webs is our brooding monster afraid he might be, and Protea is the best damn leader this side of John Frickin' Wayne. Me? It's either Buster and Babs Bunny's sexy older sister, or that Hefner guy, and he creeps me out. Talk about your dirty old men!
Well, like I said, the kick caught Apache Warrior Chief by surprise and sent him hurling back into the bulkhead. I saw the stone crack and crumble at the force. Like I said, I'm strong- not Shadow Claw or Fury strong, but I'm strong. Really strong. I landed, rolled to a stop, back flipped- because I felt like it- closer to the line of soldiers, crouched and screamed, “Rabbit sweep!”
I spun, stretched my leg out and took down the middle two jaguar men in a sweep. A quick hop and I was between them on the deck. Two quick rabbit punches and their jaws were broken and they were out like a light. I didn't yell that one.
There was movement at my side and I saw where Protea had fried the two on my right. Webs took out the two on my left with that paralyzing cocoon of his. Earendil and Psi-Claw each took out four on the opposite ends of the line. What they did with them was great team work. Mr. Meso-American warrior guy suddenly got slammed back into the wall by eight of his own men. Damn we're good.
“This way!” Protea screamed and pointed toward an area in the back of the bay. It was then I noticed that the room we were in was actually some kind of huge equipment slash weapons bay. There were small fighter craft, long racks with what looked like bombs and some kind of storage tanks, and God only knows what else all over the place. We all headed to where our fearless leader was pointing off to the right and all the way in the back. It looked like we had to go through a line of strange looking vehicles that could only be described as tanks without any treads or wheels, or any other way of propelling themselves.
We high-tailed it toward that bay as the oiled down warrior guy peeled his jaguar men off him. I landed on top of the first of the tanks and looked inside the open hatch at the top. Looked like some kind of cockpit in there. Looking back, I saw Webs pull his Han Solo impersonation and melt some kind of control panel on the wall with a laser rifle he'd picked up- damn, I should have thought of that. Much to my surprise a door slammed up from the floor between us and the rest of the bay. “Hey guys!” I yelled. “Check this out!”
“What?” Webs asked.
“Some kind of tank?” I asked.
“Let me see,” our resident nine-legged spider said as he scrambled up top with me.
“Don't touch anything!” Protea warned.
“Why not?” Webs asked. We're here to do damage. If I can do some damage with a grav tank, then why not?”
“How do you know it's a grav tank?” I asked.
“It's got a big gun, and no way of moving. I bet it's anti-gravity,” he said.
“You've been playing too many of Ghost's and Boomer's online games,” Psi-Claw said.
“It's something to do,” Webs said as he scrambled down into the cockpit.
“The device, is through there,” Protea said pointing to another door at the back of the bay. She looked at Earendil and Psi-Claw and asked, “Can you two hold this position while we deal with the planet cracker?”
“Got it, boss-lady,” Psi-Claw said.
“You bet,” Earendil nodded seriously. Damn he has the bluest eyes.
Protea nodded to me and said, “Thumper, come with me.”
I hopped down off the top of Webs' new toy and headed over to where there was another door in the back of the bay. “It's through here.”
“Want me to break it down for you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, I want you to be on the lookout for anyone inside that we can't see through the glass plate.” She indicated where there was some kind of window in the door. I peeked to either side, but could see nothing.
I nodded my head seriously and told her. “You deal with the planet cracker and I'll keep 'em off your back.”
She just grinned and then touched the door. The damn thing just melted away into nothing. Damn her control of the elements was getting better. I still couldn't figure out why anybody would build a spacecraft out of rock though. We headed into the room where there were racks and racks and racks of torpedo like things on the wall. One in particular was set off to itself. It looked like someone had built a barrel out of metal, and left the top and bottom off. There were all kinds of gadgets and gyros and crap like that all over it. There was even a display screen on the side.
“Oh shit!” we heard from the other bay. “Ugly is back!”
There was a loud sound of something big and heavy hitting stone. “That wall's not going to hold!” Psi-Claw yelled.
“Can you pick this thing up?” Webs asked.
“I think so,” Psi-Claw repleid.
“Great. Turn it around. I've got an idea,” Webs said.
Protea dropped to the device and rubbed her fingers along its side. “Keep them off of us while I figure this thing out!”
“BOOM!” something crashed back in the other bay. My ears literally curled inward to protect themselves from the sound. I felt the force wave all the way in here as it slammed me forward like a hard shove. Protea grabbed the device to keep it from falling over. It started beeping.
Suddenly there was a hurricane-like wind sucking us back toward the bay with the grav tanks. Protea held on to the device as we were slowly pulled back toward that room. I heard Psi-Claw yell, “Elf-lord! Seal that hole!” What the hell had just happened?
As we tumbled into the bay, I got a glimpse of the main door that had risen to seal off the bad guys from getting to us. It was gone. So was the wall. So was half the bay on the other side, and the far wall. We were looking out into open space. I could see another space ship beyond that. It looked like two giant pyramids stuck together at the points. Even more frightening was what I saw beyond that: the moon. Our moon. We were near Earth. This was not good.
Floating between us and that other ship was the guy I rabbit kicked. He was struggling trying to get a hold on something. What surprised me was he wasn't dead- especially considering how much junk was being sucked out of the bay and toward him.
“What the hell did you do?” Protea demanded.
“He fired the tank's cannon!” Earendil said as he concentrated. A hard light wall appeared over the breach in the outer hull of the spaceship and the wind suddenly stopped.
Webs stuck his head out of the top of the tank and grinned hugely- at least I think it was a grin. It sort of looked like a grin, but with the way his mouth was designed I couldn't tell. “Hey it worked!”
“You almost killed us!” Psi-Claw said rubbing his hears. “My ears are still ringing!” Then turning to Protea, he asked. “Is that it?”
Protea nodded and set the device back on the floor. “Yeah.”
“Any idea what to do with it?” Psi-Claw asked.
“I have an idea, if I can figure out how this works,” she replied.
“You can read this alien gobbly-gook?” I asked.
She shook her head and said, “A little of it sort of makes sense. But it's more like I've got a feel for the device.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“You guys are going to teleport back to the school now. I'm going to set this thing to go off and point it away from the Earth and follow.”
“Like the hell we are,” Psi-Claw said. “We came together, we leave together.”
“That was an order,” Protea leveled her voice at him.
“This isn't the Marine Corps,” Psi-Claw argued. “Now set the damn thing and let's get out of here, before anyone else comes back.”
For long moments the two stood, eyes locked. Finally, Protea said, “This isn't over.”
“Fine. Bust our chops when we're all back safe and sound on Earth,” I told her. “Till then, get back to work. You're slacking.”
She made a gesture toward me. I replied, “Talk to Eric. Maybe we can work something out with all three of us.”
She blushed, and Earendil started coughing. The tensity was broken and she turned back to the device mumbling, “Girl, you ain't right.”
“Never claimed to be,” I replied.
“Fine,” she said making some adjustments to the device that I didn't understand. After about five minutes she looked at me and said. “Carefully turn it on it's side, while I set up a cradle for it.”
I shrugged and picked the device up and tilted it over gently. When I set it down, the floor molded itself up and around it. It rotated a few degrees to the left and then upward. Protea said, “Get ready!” We all reached for the devices on our belt. “Go!” she said, pressing something on the device and then her belt.
I waited until everyone had disappeared before I touched mine. First to go was Webs, then Psi-Claw, and then Earendil. Lastly it was just me and Protea. I smiled and said, “You first.”
She stuck her tongue out at me and pressed the device on her belt. I followed suit. Just before she disappeared, I saw a flash of light lance out from the device through the hole Earendil's disappearance had left in the far bay wall and slam into the ship on the other side of the gulf. I'm not sure, but I think I saw the guy we'd spaced get caught in the beam.
Again there was a feeling of speed and moving sideways. There was a sudden lurch and I felt the ground under me change. I looked down and saw grass. Looking around I realized we were back on the grounds of the school.
Movement above me caught my attention. I looked up a saw a huge ass explosion in the sky. There was a second explosion off to the side, and then something slammed into the moon that was visible in the day sky above them. “I love it when a plan comes together,” Psi-Claw quoted a famous movie.
~*~
LIGHTWING aka Tracy Bramhold
My whole team just went off the deep end. It wasn't berserk. They all knew exactly what they were doing. They were in complete control of their faculties. They had simply been pushed beyond the point of the niceties of combat. This was now kill or be killed,. Speedfire was as caught up in it as they were, as I was. Even what was left of Neo-Force 1 and Cadre 4 were affected. But there was something about this core team that seemed to synch together in a primal fury that was not going to give way. We all looked to Boomer who was stunned into immobility, tears flowing down his face as his mother fell to the Earth below.
I swooped in and caught her limp body. I looked into the face of the Earth's greatest hero and saw no light in those eyes. No life in that body. I began to feel the rage build into me as well. I fought it though. At least one of us needed to stay calm and focused. Earth depended on us to do what had to be done. Lady Lighting would be avenged. As I gently lowered her body to the ground behind the statue on which Shadow Claw was sitting, I could have sworn that I heard another set of wings besides mine and Talon's in the area. I looked around for another foe, but saw none. Only a presence similar to that of Nerthus at Winterfinding.
With an inarticulate scream of rage and lightning dancing around his body, Boomer launched himself at the bowman below. There was no acceleration, no building momentum, just instant speed fueled by his rage as he slammed into his mother's killer with everything he had. The sound barrier was shattered as he went instantly hypersonic. The blows rained down like hammers as he pounded the surprised bowman.
Simultaneously the three teams merged into one and surged forward. There was violence to be done, and they were the ones to do it. All obviously wanting their pound of flesh, Speedfire, Ice Storm and Glitch followed him into the fray. Shadow Claw leaped at large man, who was obviously the leader. Faerie, Trance, and Talon all dove into the fight with her. Lastly Ghost led the attack on the woman who was pulling herself out of the hole Lady Lightning had put her in. Ace and Goth leapt at her as well. Most surprisingly- or all things considered, perhaps not so surprisingly- was that Kenneth Draupnir dove in behind Goth.
I floated above, watched and tried to coordinate things. If any of the three gave me a clear shot I let them have it with a laser blast. What Boomer was doing to the bowman was horrendous. He was pounding the big alien's body and his face with a series of blows the sounds of which were echoing off the walls. Each one was punctuated by a mega-voltage arc of lightning.
Ice Storm slid up behind the stunned bowman and yanked his bow and flaming quiver of arrows out of his hands. Most people would think that she would be afraid of that fire, but I knew better. Brian once told me that she was thermophagic. She didn't really fire cold blasts, in reality she sucked the heat out of an area. Sure, you can hit her ice constructs with heat and melt them, but it doesn't hurt her. Hit her with heat or fire and you just feed her power.
Lady Lighting's killer spun to see who'd grabbed his weapons in time to catch a multiple mach-speed punch and the follow up sonic boom to the face from Speedfire. As the speedster raced off to circle around for another attack, Glitch surprised us all. She 'ported in behind him with large stone in her hand.
“Pop”, the stone disappeared, and mass of pulsing blood-red tissue appeared in its place.
The bowman screamed and grabbed his chest. That was all Boomer needed. He leapt on top of the man, grabbed his head in both hands, planted his feet on either side of his shoulders and pulled hard. I could see the strain in his muscles, in his arms, and on his face. Tears still flowed down his cheeks as he screamed into the sky. “Die, you bastard!”
Lightning poured into the field until our leader was one huge glowing white hot silhouette crouched atop the screaming man's shoulders. To be honest, considering their relative sizes, and Boomer's position squatting in front of his face, knees on either side of the bigger man's ears, the image was vaguely obscene. With a Herculean effort, Boomer stood, and there was another loud, “Pop.” The man toppled forward and Boomer hovered there in the air above him with a basketball sized object in his hand. It wasn't until he casually tossed it aside, did I realize it was the bowman's head.
Ghost may have led the attack on the Obsidian Butterfly woman, but it was Ace who was racking up the blows. People who know of our various neo-human classifications are surprised to find out that Ace was only a class eight when he came to us. I think he's beyond that now, just as all of us have grown. But his particular combinations of powers are highly effective. He has reflexes, speed, and strength far beyond those of normal humans. His vision and hearing are almost as acute as Shadow Claw's. He can easily military press a car, and he run at almost a hundred miles an hour, and literally leap a tall building- maybe not in a single bound. He can also handle close range small arms fire, but complains that it hurts. And it does leave a nasty bruise. In other words, he's hell on wheels in a fight.
He was bouncing in and out of the fray, landing devastating blows against the woman's raw back where her wings had been burned away by Lady Lightning's last blast, against her head where Ghost had merged a piece of granite with her brain, and at least two nasty front kicks to the groin. He was not playing nice today. All of this served to keep her off balance and confused.
Kenneth Draupnir kept tapping her on the shoulder, the side, of the head, and at least once on her bare breast. Each time he did, she would scream and he would drop something to the ground. I found out later he was leeching the very iron from her blood and the calcium from her bones. I couldn't believe that a guy with no history of combat experience, was wading hip deep into the fray.
Ghost dashed in, grabbed her by both shoulders and shoved her backwards into the flagpole. She struggled against his grip, and for a second I though she was going to break it when she head-butted him across the bridge of his nose. Blood sprayed from his face as he shoved her backwards and let go. She screamed once as the pole merged with her spinal cord.
As she went limp, Goth stepped in, and grabbed her head with his good arm. Suddenly his third eye glowed brilliantly and she tensed, screaming, “Ahmo!” Then she simply crumbled into red dust as a cloudy mist began to spread out from the dust around us. I had a bad feeling about this.
Turning my attention to the big guy. The one who said he was going to kill us. The one who was naked and was slowly regenerating where Shadow Claw had ripped off his manhood with a foot rake, was once again circling with our resident hermaphroditic neko. Faerie, Talon, and Trance were all three taking turns dive bombing him. Talon's claws were biting deep into his shoulders, his back, and one time she drove one into the top of his skull. I think she was trying to decapitate him, but her own bone-like blades wouldn't penetrate his spinal cord. Faerie and Trance were double teaming him with psychic assaults that had him dazed and confused.
Every time one of the other ladies would distract him, Shadow Claw would step in with a devastating blow. I watched as he reached out and nearly caught Faerie's boot. Shadow Claw raced in, clamped down on the offending wrist, twisted around, down and back- hard. There was the audible sound of shoulder separating as he was literally thrown to the ground in a classic wrist throw.
Shadow Claw didn't let go. She planted her foot against his lats and yanked back hard. With a sickening sound, his arm came free from his shoulder. As he tried to rise, blood spouting from his ruined shoulder Shadow Claw spun on her heel and slammed the bloody end of his own arm into his face. The force of the blow literally picked him up and slammed him back into base of the statue of Rochambeau. She leapt at him and then began to rain down a series of bloody blows on him, literally beating him with his own arm, screaming like a wild cat.
It was Boomer, Ace, and Ghost who finally pulled her off the man as Faerie slipped in under her arm. She reached out and touched his bloody face and smiled grimly. His body suddenly tensed like the woman and he too screamed, “Ahmo!”
“Quemah,” Faerie growled to him and shoved him back against the stone. He groaned once again and then he too crumbled to dust.
Suddenly mist that had been rising slowly became a whirlwind of energy and lighting around us. It hit us from all sides, lashing out with its own arcs of power and lightning, filling our minds with terrible images of thousands of hearts ripped from the chests of helpless victims. Of jungles running red with the blood of the vanquished, and of planets far away peopled with humans, jaguar people, and winged snakes.
It wrapped around us like a whirlwind and the blasted into the sky and spread outwards. From horizon to horizon the sky went from clear bright to suddenly covered in dark pendulous black clouds where strokes of lighting gave them a menacing purplish cast. This was not of the good. I could feel something awakening in my bones, in the air itself. It was as if a veil between realities was ripped.
I dropped to the ground, and leaned against Speedfire as we looked around. Kenneth Draupnir looked up at me, and I could see that his eyes were now glowing embers of fire. “Something is changing in the world. I can feel it in my bones.”
“What have we done?” I asked as Pat steadied me where my leg threatened to buckle under me from the fiery pain that I had suppressed for most of the fight. To my surprise, Amelia got my other side. We must have made quite a sight, the angel being buoyed by two demons.
Brian looked at me, the pain still evident in his eyes. “What we always do. What we have to do. We protected our home, and our family. When we can't protect, we avenge.”
Suddenly Faerie's and her brother's antennae began to spark. Boomer and Ice Storm turned to face them. I could almost tell they were doing their best to convince him of something. Finally, Boomer looked at the rest of us and said, “Everybody head back to the school. Glitch, and Goth, see how many you can take with you. Faerie, Speedfire, and Warlock, stay with me.”
“Warlock?” I asked.
“Me,” Kenneth said meekly. “Kind of silly isn't it.”
“No more than Lightwing,” I said. Turning to Glitch and Goth I said, “I can get there on my own, almost as fast you can.”
They nodded and called everyone into two circles and then disappeared. I took off, transformed into light and headed West.
