After he had done his reconnaissance on the building housing the power grid, Alex decided he should wait until nightfall. The Zotari would blend in to the night making it difficult to see them, but with Alex’s black symbiotic armor, he would too.

A nice side effect of his enhanced body, was that seeing in the dark was much easier than it had been before. He could make out more detail, see further, and it took less time for him to adjust to a sudden change in ambient light. It wasn’t nearly as good as his day vision, but it was a very convenient improvement nonetheless.

When the sun set, Alex made his move into the city. He had planned his route as best he could, but it was different when he would actually get onto the street. He would need to be careful to not run into the wandering patrols, but also to not get lost. He had gotten lost plenty of times when he visited a new city. GPS was a blessing. He no longer needed to think about where he was going. Smart machine tell Alex where to go. Now, he was seeing how much that had crippled him. He used to be able to memorize streets and routes much easier. He was running the route on constant repeat in his head so that he wouldn’t forget it.

He was following the route pretty good until he came upon a patrol. He quickly ducked to the side, careful to remain out of sight and to be silent. He peeked from around the corner to study their movements. Alex cursed under his breath when he saw that they had decided to park right at the crossroads he needed to follow. He cursed again when he saw another patrol coming from behind him. His route would have to come secondary to his need to remain undiscovered.

Making sure no one in the group was looking his way, he darted across the opening to continue his silent journey. With the second patrol unwittingly right on his heels, Alex would need to quick.

A series of turns had allowed Alex to lose his tail, but he had also lost his sense of direction. He had been so focused on his escape that he hadn’t been keeping track of his winding path. With no other choice, he decided to get some altitude to find a landmark. He climbed the building behind him as silently as he possibly could and reached the top in moments.

A quick peek over the ledge of the building had another string of muttered expletives leaving his mouth. He had apparently chosen the worst building to climb, as there were no less than ten Zotari warriors huddled in conversation. He hadn’t even realized that they patrolled on top of the buildings as well. He could descend this building to climb another one, but found he didn’t need to. He could see the geodesic building in the distance.

I guess I’m not that unlucky after all. Alex thought just before his foothold slipped out from under him.

He scrambled to get a better grip, but it was too late. He was already rapidly descending, until suddenly he wasn’t. He had crashed into a type of scaffolding and his sudden stop was not silent. He could already hear the alien warriors making their way to that side of the roof. Alex had to make himself scarce. He dive off the scaffolding and quickly ran around the corner. It was just in time as the scouts had just missed his escape. He wasn’t sure what that would mean for the rest of his night, but at least for the moment he wasn’t being chased. At least, as far as he knew there wasn’t anybody following him.

Slowing his pace, he came to another gently rounded city street. He surveyed the road for a few moments before determining the coast was clear. He ran through the opening in seconds and stopped when he reached the other side. He could hear voices ahead and crept forward to hear what they were saying.

“So what exactly do we need to be on the lookout for?”

“They didn’t say. They just said that they heard a loud crash and by the time they got over there, whatever had made the sound was gone. They couldn’t see where it had gone, but whatever it was had to have been big.”

“They were probably drinking a little too much gresta. I know whenever I get put on rooftop duty I always do. Nobody ever checks on them.”

“Yeah? Well do you remember why we aren’t on rooftop duty anymore?”

“Well. I mean, they obviously check up on them sometimes. We were just unfortunate enough to be on duty the night they did.”

“Or, they knew that you were going to be slacking off so they had a ‘routine inspection’ scheduled for our shift. You cost us all. It took us months to get that station.”

“Hey! I wasn’t the only one caught drinking.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Yeah, but you were the one that brought it.”

“Hey! You idiots! We have an eavesdropper,” a voice came from behind Alex suddenly.

Alex turned to face the newcomer. It was the largest Zotari he had ever seen. He thought they only came in one size, but apparently he was wrong. He identified it.

Zotari Brute

Level 58

“Well crap! I thought that all of you guys were like level 20,” Alex said.

The hulking alien just looked at him in confusion for a second before sending a meaty fist hurtling his direction. Alex was about to dodge when two sets of hand stopped him from behind. A quick identify showed him just how careless he had been.

Zotari Warrior

Level 52

Zotari Warrior

Level 56

The brute began pummeling Alex in the face.

What is with these guys? They never fight fair.

Where the rest of the Zotari Alex had run into were extremely fast, the brute seemed to have sacrificed that speed for pure, overwhelming strength. His punches hurt almost as much as the Primate King’s had, despite being multiple levels lower.

Both of Alex’s arms were pinned back, but his legs were free. He shot his leg out and struck one of the Zotari holding him. It blasted into its knee, sending the joint in the wrong direction. A loud pop could be heard, followed by a scream of pain. With his arm suddenly freed from its grasp, Alex sent an empowered punch into the other Zotari. Alex’s hand felt like it was going to explode as the strike was intercepted by the brute. Apparently he wasn’t going to let Alex just beat on his friends. How inconvenient.

The brute bent Alex’s hand back, forcing him to his knees in pain. The Zotari kept pushing down. Alex fought back with all he had, but his strength couldn’t keep up. He was losing. Unsure of what to do, he charged up as much energy as he could into his chest. It built until it reached the tipping point. Searing thermal energy blasted out of his chest, both sending him backward and firing straight into the Zotari brute. Unfortunately for the alien, the blast was focused enough to burn nearly through the outer part of its leg.

With the sudden pain and Alex no longer there to support its weight, the brute crashed down into the ground. The other Zotari went flying back with Alex. No longer suffering a numbers disadvantage, Alex landed a series of blows into the Zotari warriors face before it could recover. Before long however, the burnt Zotari came running to his friend’s aid. Alex was quickly put back on the defensive as he swatted away two burly paws in quick succession.

He was put even more on the back foot as the Zotari he had been beating in the face joined back in on the fight as well. Alex was barely able to deflect the attacks, each one coming closer than the last. He was struggling, especially against the stronger one. The brute telegraphed his punches, but it didn’t matter much when Alex was under constant pressure.

To create a little more space, Alex channeled some energy into his feet. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give him some breathing room allowing him to think for a second instead of just reacting. He saw the brute swing his fist where he had been just moments before. With nothing to swallow the momentum, the brute went flailing. It put so much strength into its attacks that it would put the alien off balance should he miss. That gave Alex an idea.

He channeled energy once again, only this time he went towards the duo. It surprised the smaller one, but the larger Zotari saw an opportunity. He readied a haymaker to intercept Alex. At the last moment, Alex sent off another short blast, putting him just out of reach. The brute’s swing continued on its path, directly into his ally. The Zotari warriors eyes went wide as he was sent flying into the wall next to him. Realization showed on the brute’s face, and he turned to Alex full of anger.

“Hey that’s not my fault. You were the one that hit him,” Alex taunted.

The way the brute’s face contorted reminded Alex of an enraged bull in a cartoon. Who knew the Zotari had such command of their facial expressions?

The brute barreled forward, heading straight for Alex. Alex didn’t want to receive that blow either, and at the last moment, blasted himself into the air. The bull of an alien zoomed right past. Alex could feel the wind of the dash just under the soles of his feet.

“Close one. You gotta be quicker than that.”

The Zotari turned around, this time even more enraged. It chose a similar tactic. Actually it was the exact same tactic.

I guess he’s intellectually challenged just like me.

Once again, just before the Zotari collided with him, Alex shot himself out of the way. This time, it collided with a wall. Alex took a moment to punish the alien for its mistake. He landed a series of punches into its backside. He had been too greedy as the bully backhanded Alex, popping his back with how much force it exerted. He tumbled a few feet before getting his footing once more.

“Holy crap that hurt!”

Alex looked down and saw that he had a metal rod sticking out of his side. He winced in pain as he pulled it out. He had seen on TV that you weren’t supposed to take something like that out as you would start to bleed a lot more. Luckily for him, he had the Eonsteel to staunch the bleeding. Hoisting up the rod, Alex flung it forward. It flew right past the Zotari’s face. It smiled as it flew by.

“You missed me,” it said.

“I wasn’t aiming for you.”

A squelch could be heard behind the brute. It looked back to see its ally fall into a bloody heap, one large rod protruding from its eye. When it looked back at Alex, its smile was replaced by a sneer. It was Alex’s turn to smile. One down, one and a half to go.

No. I don’t really like that. Let’s just make this even.

He looked over to where the injured Zotari was now crawling away. He blasted himself into the air, then charged up a death ray into his palms. When he landed, his superheated hands melted away the Zotari’s head. He turned to the final Zotari, fear evident in its face. Fear, and anger.

That’s better. Now it’s one on one.