Chapter 72: Mittens is Here.
“Stop crying and get back to work!” I yelled. Really struggling against the impulse to dominate these fools again.
One of the fools in question sobbed pathetically. His shoulders sagging as he crumpled downwards in a heap.
“Please sir! I have a family!”
I could feel the veins in my forehead twitching with barely supressed rage at that comment. Every one of my instincts begging to smite this coward where he stood.
‘No. Sully. Bad Telepath. He’s human. Not a gnome. You’re a good person. Repeat after me. Good person. Good person. Good person. He might be a false hero but he’s still a person. Do not lose your cool.’
I took in a deep, calming breath. Releasing the tension in a drawn-out sigh and trying really, really hard to avoid looking at Firewall’s corpse again. Being reminded that new, up-and-coming heroes were dead while these wastrels lived would only set me off again.
“Okay. Listen here Shadowfart.”
“Shadowblade.” He corrected in between sobs.
My eyes narrowed to dangerous levels and my body grew incredibly still. He yelped backwards in a blind panic. Even though he couldn’t see my face.
“EEEEEEK! Or not! My name can be whatever you desire master! Please don’t enslave me!”
“I’m not going to…!”
I had to stop then. Turning my head and taking a few more breaths before I did anything stupid. That immediately backfired as I once more saw Firewall’s half melted lower half and the agony etched on his face.
‘Poor man didn’t even have a chance. The bio-bomb came too fast. No. No! Focus on the present!’
“Whoo. I’m calm. I am calm. I am not going to blow another fuse.” I stared at him and the others in turn.
I knelt. Talking to him as one would to a six-year-old.
“Listen. My good man. I will not repeat myself again. You and your phony friends are going to keep digging, or in your case, phasing through the earth for victims trapped beneath the rubble, Shadowfart. Monique and Cherub already cleared all the ones at that intersection and they’re busy helping out other people in other parts of the city right now. So, we are responsible for this section of coastline. The east side was hit before I and my friends got summoned. A lot of people died, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people still alive. I can sense them. I know they’re there. So, we have to save them before they suffocate or bleed to death. I’m feeding you enough Psy. I improved your powers. I even went so far as to give you new ones. This is the least you can do for me and for the people you were supposed to protect. The sooner we do that, the sooner you can fly me over to the Rift and the big alpha kaiju so we can put an end to this (Gnome)ing mess.”
Another shot of biomass shot through the air towards our position. A colossal, living missile with hundreds of buzzing insectile wings and a bellyful of caustic acid. Its primitive mind filled with nothing but the intent to crash upon our location.
It was too far to see with my own eyes, yet its thoughts blared like alarms through my fog as it sped towards the shoreline. Then it was within the range of my [Mental Map] and I could discern its features more clearly. From the empty, vacuous eyes that lined the crown of its misshapen skull to the rows upon rows of vestigial limbs trailing underneath it. Its hide was thick and rubbery. Covered with pustules and random tufts of fur or hair in the most unseemly of places. It had not one, not two, but three togues that were hanging out from the corners of its closed mouth. Massive trails of acidic saliva crashing down upon the black, salty sea beneath it.
‘I guess the Drake wasn’t kidding about the flexibility of Shifter powers. If only I had listened. To that part and no other. He was still a homicidal maniac, even if he had a few good points here and there.’
I called upon [Domination] with a slight flex of my will and called on it to turn around and make for its mother.
The thing tried to obey, but couldn’t. Its momentum not allowing it to make such drastic maneuvers on such short notice. Instead, it diverted its own trajectory by a few degrees. Striking a part of the marina that had been levelled minutes prior when the last bio-bomb was made to turn.
I clenched my teeth in annoyance.
‘That is really starting to get on my nerves. Honestly, why can’t the (Gnome)ing thing act like a good little monster and trample its way over to my range already?’
Naturally, that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.
The kaiju, as far as I could tell, didn’t have any Telepath abilities beyond its own higher-Tiered version of [Sense Thoughts]. That came with three problems. The first was that its range was ludicrous. And that was coming from me. Now that I was actively seeking it out with my own fog, I could tell that it was at least three times the size of mine. Maybe even bigger.
The second was that it was also apparently capable of judging relative strength. Nothing like my own [Insight], but more akin to a way of sensing total Psy or the influence of certain kinds of Psy. It couldn’t sense me directly because of [Suppression] but it sure as (Gnome) could sense the by-now millions of winged fish I was throwing at it. On top of my own fog.
That led to the third and most annoying problem. The fact that it was smart enough to keep its distance, but not smart enough to give the (Gnome) up and go back to whatever (Gnome)ing place it came from.
Meaning that the (Gnome)ing bastard could appreciate that being close to me was a very bad idea, but not how I would eventually find it and (Gnome)ing disembowel it with Cherub.
Or worse.
My body tremble slightly as another bout of impotent rage made its way through me, and that was enough for Shadowfart.
He sobbed harder. So did the others.
“I don’t wanna go! I don’t wanna go! Please! Please let us leave!”
Keeping my hands from his throat took more willpower than I would care to admit. Yet, miraculously, I managed it.
“Now now, Shadowfart. Remember your oath. You know, the piece of paper you signed that gave you all that money and screentime and merchandise and social media fame? You get paid in exchange for killing monsters. You are sworn to kill monsters and save people whenever and wherever they might be in danger. The contract also very clearly states that you’re supposed to fight with your life on the line. That everyone else escapes first and you escape last, if at all. I’ve already been more than lenient with you all. Considering that you let those people in the restaurant die while you hid.”
I pointed at the other, bigger men behind him.
“And that your pals here took the opportunity to raid a pharmacy, instead of helping civilians escape.”
“I don’t even know them!” Shadowfart protested.
“Yeah! And we’re not even heroes!” One of the other two chipped in.
I turned my gaze to them now. Wondering if I should [Dominate] them after all.
“You realize that I went through your memories, right? I know that you’re both enlisted with the Esper response squads. You might have been E-Ranks then, but the oath is the same, even if the pay is worse. Also, I’m fairly certain that nowhere in that contract does it say that you should kill pharmacists so that you can refill your Oxy supply.”
My fists were clenching harder now. Fury willing my fingers to curl as I imagined what the Drake had said to me some weeks earlier. About the follies of mercy and how leniency was a weakness. If I recalled correctly, Slab and Dusty had echoed those thoughts when we’d discussed Mason. So had the rest of my team.
‘No Sully. No. You’re a good person. These fools will have their day in court. Patience now. Patience.’
“Enough dallying.” I declared. Turning on [Charming Presence II] and feeling the feedback of their resistance withering within seconds.
“You will dig. One way, or the other. Now.”
The two brutes grew mole-like claws as they wept. Putting their newfound Shifter powers to use in concert to their upgraded Enhancer abilities and parting rubble and bits of foundation as they toiled.
Shadowfart grimaced, but obeyed as well. Melting into the solid material and diving for dozens of metres. I guided him with [Team Tactics]. Sharing the spots where I knew the survivors were.
I nodded in satisfaction. Turning to the counter in the Excursion’s description.
System Excursion:
Team: The Good Guys, has embarked on an Excursion.
Objective: Defend the people of Hong Kong from a monster outbreak. This Excursion will be considered a failure if more than 15, 000 humans perish due to monster attacks or through the direct or indirect intervention of Team: The Good Guys.
Bonus Objective: Clear the entire Island and its shoreline of monsters.
Time Limit: 50 hours.
Deaths: 3261 / 15, 000.
Excursion to Earth: TRKG 2004 is underway.
A groan escaped my lips then. As I noted that another thirty people had been added to the casualty count. It came hot on the heels of yet another migraine from the hundreds of thousands of free-willed winged fish that I was subjugating at that very moment.
I sent them hunting for the sniper-kaiju lobbing the living bio-weapons at the port with a flex of my will and re-focused on the screen.
“Mother(Gnome)er! How is it that the casualty numbers are so high!? We’ve been in the Labyrinth for seven weeks! This should be easier!”
That was nonsense of course. A fact I was all too aware of.
The System didn’t cause these catastrophes. It merely sent Espers to take care of them. The fact that we were here instead of any other team likely didn’t have anything to do with us being punished. Rather, it was probably because we were the strongest human team available.
Another, darker aspect of the whole thing was that those numbers were very misleading.
That is, they only counted deaths from monster attacks or our actions. Meaning that it didn’t count deaths by falling buildings, violence between humans or any other manner of accidents, unless me and my team were responsible for causing those accidents.
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“And they’re still so (Gnome)ing high! How! What are we doing wrong!?”
‘You aren’t going all-out.’ A little voice whispered in the edges of my mind. ‘You could have used your new ability. You could have called upon the Tall Man and his troops. They are not constrained to your fog. They would have been free to save as many people as you wanted.’
I shook my head to dispel the intrusive thoughts.
Yes, that was true, but it was also true that I had little to no control over what any of those Intruders did. No matter what Henry or his teachers might have said.
They could go out and rescue people, but they were just as likely to start collecting the heads of looters or any other false heroes I hadn’t got to yet. Not to mention the havoc they could cause if they somehow managed to stay in the island after me and my team were gone. Or worse, if they spread out beyond its borders.
I had called upon [Insight] just in case, and all it showed me was a load of unrelated nonsense. Like a jet plane or a bunch of stuffed suits in a room talking about some Desmond guy and sending S-Ranks to rescue him.
‘No. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing and hope that its enough.’
The two brutes brought up a sobbing woman with a shattered leg. Her sobs echoing through the air as she clutched a cooling corpse.
“Please!” She cried, pushing past the unimaginable pain. “Please save my son! He’s hurt!”
‘He’s dead.’ I thought bitterly. ‘Been dead a while from the looks of it.’
The teenager’s neck was partially crushed and twisted at an odd angle. With a few shards of bone sticking out near the place where his Adam’s apple should have been. Clearly, some part of the structure had fallen on top of him when the building went down.
‘At least he didn’t suffer.’ I told myself. While keeping my silence in front of the woman.
Instead, I allowed my hums to flood over her. Kickstarting her regeneration while the two brutes drew back and cleaned her son’s blood off her hands.
“It’s okay.” I said to her. Overcharging my own abilities so that she healed faster.
To the other two, I sent a strongly worded [Message].
‘Who the (Gnome) do you think you are!? Leaving a wounded person to (Gnome)ing bleed out! I mother(Gnome)ing gave you Shifter powers and I sure as (Gnome) expect you to use them! Get over here and (Gnome)ing help me heal her! Or I swear on my parents that what I did to the gnomes last week will taste like the sweetest milk of human kindness, compared to what I’ll do to you if she passes away!’
Okay, so perhaps I over did it.
I mean, sure. They were scum. But they were as shell-shocked as anyone else. There would have to be a trial, in order to determine their guilt.
Regardless, the effect my words had was as immediate as it was satisfying. As the two buffoons practically tripped over themselves in their haste to get to me.
She was back in good shape within half a minute after that. Still wheezing and gasping, but no longer looking like she was seconds away from losing consciousness.
Sadly, this allowed her to regain some of her lucidity and she finally noticed the state her son was in.
The wails that followed were something I was sure would haunt me for the rest of my life. They were deep and guttural. Coming from a place only a mother would understand. I sensed the exact moment she lost all hope. All will to live.
Shadowfart actually brought two more relatively healthy people out and immediately dove back in without protest, rather than listening to her despair.
I knew I had to step in.
So, I deepened my resolve and used [Sleep] to make her drift off.
Level Gained: +1000 Maximum Psy. +17 Ability Points.
Level Gained: +1000 Maximum Psy. +17 Ability Points.
Ability Evolving: [Sleep] 1 has grown to [Sleep] 2
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Attack] 5 has grown to [Hum of Attack] 6
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Striding] 5 has grown to [Hum of Striding] 6
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Defence] 5 has grown to [Hum of Defence] 6
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Harmony] 3 has grown to [Hum of Harmony] 4
Ability Evolving: [Hum of Cleansing] 6 has grown to [Hum of Cleansing] 7
Ability Evolving: [Cleansing Gaze] 3 has grown to [Cleansing Gaze] 4
All those notifications left me with one point left over and nowhere to spend it, until another change stirred within me.
Abilities Converging:
[Hum of Cleansing] 7 Has been undone. 28 Ability Points Gained.
[Cleansing Gaze] 4 Has been undone. 10 Ability Points Gained.
[Healing Song II] 1 has been formed. 1 Ability point consumed.
38 Ability Points Remaining.
[Healing Song II]
Standard Combination of [Hum of Cleansing] / [Cleansing Gaze].
Grants the User the ability to project an aura that dispels lingering psionic effects and increases the natural regeneration of living interactable targets within a range equivalent to 10% of the current range of [Sense Thoughts] or derivatives.
This aura may be deployed actively at a cost of 50 Psy per minute for an effectiveness of + 25% per current ability level or passively for an effectiveness of + 5% per current ability level.
The potency of all these effects increases by 150% every five levels.
These effects can be overcharged with Psy through this ability.
No further levels came from merging the ability, but I didn’t care in the slightest. Instead, I quickly placed all the points I now had on the new creation and marvelled at it with proud eyes.
Name:
Solomon Carter
Psy:
30, 889 / 375, 360
Type:
Telepath IV Level 159
Abilities:
[Solomon’s Inescapable Domination X] 19 / [Solomon’s Overwhelming Avatar X] 15 / [Solomon’s Inexorable Suppression V] 13 / [Solomon’s Calamitous Insight VII] 19 / [Delirium III] 6 / [Total Organ Failure III] 8 / [Charming Presence II] 9 / [Stealth III] 10 / [Healing Song II] 8 / [Sense Thoughts] 19 / [Message] 5 / [Mental Bolt] 7 / [Faint Presence] 5 / [Mental Map] 10 / [Team Tactics] 5 / [Electronic Interface] 4 / [Floral Interface] 1 / [Fungal Interface] 1 / [Sleep] 2 / [Team Spirit] 4 / [Team Resilience] 3 / [Team Momentum] 2 / [Team Doctrine] 4 / [Mask] 1 / [Flash] 1 / [Persistent Message] 1 / [Mark Target] 2 / [Sobriety] 1 / [Hum of Attack] 6 / [Hum of Striding] 6 / [Hum of Defence] 6 / [Hum of Harmony] 4 / [Hum of Discord] 5 / [Hum of Mist] 5 / [Painful Gaze] 1 / [Entrancing Gaze] 3 / [Degrading Gaze] 1 / [Psionic Jinx] 1 / [Psionic Hex] 1 / [Psionic Curse] 5 / [Blind] 3 / [Deafen] 3 / [Anosmia] 3
Ability Points:
2
‘Ten percent of my current range is one point eight kilometres. Almost 2 full kilometres and the furthest survivors is only 50 or so metres away! This is literally a lifesaver!’
It had been a long time coming too, which only sweetened my joy.
I started pumping more Psy into the new ability as another living projectile entered my fog.
I sighed, readying myself to [Dominate] it yet again only to come face to face with a nasty surprise.
This new thing, had no brain.
With a start, I realized that the kaiju had enough intelligence to adapt and enough self-control over its own powers to improvise on the fly.
I called on [Insight]. Trying to figure out a way out of this. But I did not succeed. In every future I saw, the bio-bomb hit true. Melting me, the false heroes and all the survivors beneath us to hot slag.
My fists clenched as sweat gathered around my forehead. The missile of flesh and acid coming closer and closer as I searched for any other way.
But I found none other, than calling on it.
“Take the survivors and run.” I told the brutes.
“Really?” One asked. A question that led the other to smack him across the face with a solid backhanded blow.
“What he meant to say is thank you! We’ll be on our way!”
They picked up the people laying on the ground with all the ease that their newly-improved Enhancer bodies provided, before sprinting away towards the northwest.
I saw them go and sent a warning down to Shadowfart. Bidding him to keep brining people up, but warning him to dive right back in as soon as he surfaced.
Then I bit my lip and commanded reality, to break.
----------------------------------------
The codes didn’t work. The old man must have changed them without me knowing. Him, or some other fool stupid enough to take orders from him instead of me.
This plane’s ai was dead-set on landing, now that we’d made it to Hong Kong and there was nothing I could do about it.
An endless stream of curses escaped from my lips. Echoing all throughout the jet. My fury pouring out like erupting lava as I swore to myself that I would personally see that bastard Carter dead.
“How fucking dare he! A fucking paper pusher! Some poor that managed to claw his way to a little bit of respect! How dare he treat me like this! How dare he go against his betters!”
This wouldn’t stand! It couldn’t stand!
Uncle Gerald had given him orders! He’d told that plebian to nuke the city! He should have bowed his head and thanked him for not demoting him on the spot for taking my phone!
‘But he sent me here instead! Knowing who I was! So that uncle Gerald would have to send heroes to rescue me!’
It was the stupidest thing he could have done.
If the Mason gang slipped through the net one more time, the blame for losing the empowering process would be on his shoulders. Worse, if they actually managed to kill another of their targets, then even uncle Gerald wouldn’t come out of it unscathed.
Rescuing me was all well and good, but everyone knew you didn’t put the top dogs at risk for any reason. Even if it meant losing blood.
‘I’ll kill him! I’ll drag him out behind a shed and put a bullet in between his eyes! No! I’ll make him disappear and make sure he suffers before allowing him to die! No one crosses me! No one!’
In hindsight, a doddering old fool like him should have been demoted the second his family went missing. No amount of ability could excuse the fact that a dog had no leash. Case in point, I couldn’t even have the satisfaction of lording his useless blood in front of him, now that he was in line for the axe.
‘I’ll have to make do with his supporters. I guess.’
I was better than nothing, but it just wouldn’t have the same impact.
Worse, that would also leave the department without the only people that kept it running smoothly and, since I was next in line after the bastard, I’d be forced to pick up the pieces.
“Fuck! All this trouble and for what!? So a few million poors could scrape by another day!? Was it worth it you old fart!?”
I didn’t expect an answer to that question. The staff in this plane were my personal aides. They should have known better.
Yet, an answer did come.
"Mittens is here."
The voice sounded like nails on chalkboard if those nails had somehow been passed through a woodchipper. Its mere presence sending shivers down my spine, my arms and my legs all at once.
Worse, it seemed to be coming from right beside me. On both the left and the right. From above and below. From in front of me and from right behind my ears.
“What the fuck!? Who said that!?”
“Mittens did speak. Mittens did squeak. Mittens is here.”
I unbuckled the plane seat, standing up with adrenaline shooting down my veins. Two of my men were there, at the rear of the jet, but they were both on the floor. One was crawling on the ground with both hands on his ears. The other was throwing up. His face as pale as death.
“Who the fuck said that!? Show yourself! Where are you!?”
The voice seemed to chuckle. Its mirth sounding like the wails of a hundred dying prisoners.
"Mittens is inside you! Mittens is all around you! Mittens is here!"
‘This is an attack!’ I realized with a start. ‘There’s an assassin on board! That bastard sent someone, some Telepath to do me in!’
That made sense. There’s no way he would just send me out to save a few million plebs after all. There’s no way anyone could be that stupid! This was part of a bigger conspiracy! He was in cahoots with the Mason gang! That’s why he needed the heroes here on the other side of the world! He had it all planned out!
I made for the weapons locker on board. Taking a shotgun and loading it.
Then made for the washrooms. The only place that I didn’t have eyes on.
I kicked open the door, prepared to fire. Only to see nothing there.
The voice giggled manically and continued taunting me.
“Mittens will stay. Mittens will play. Mittens is here.”
“Come and get it bastard!” I yelled. My blood feeling as if it was on fire. “I’ll make you pay, you hear me! I’ll kill your entire family!”
The voice chuckled again. Sounding wholly unconcerned, and closer than ever before.
There was a loud pop around the edges of my vision and I whirled with the gun raised and ready.
Only to find a monster waiting for me.
It was so big that it had to stoop over the seats. Those muscular shoulders bent forwards and at odd angles. Its skin was red as lava and it had wings as black as pitch. Four horns jutted out from its bestial head and soft, pink, mole-like feelers tasted the air in front of it.
Three giant centipedes clung to the seats on the plane. Attached to its hips where legs should have been. The little skittering legs attached to the exoskeletons spasmed as they raked the fine leather of the seats. Obviously still very much alive.
The thing looked at me and grinned. Showing off rows upon rows of yellowed rotting fangs.
“Mittens will snare you. Mittens will wear you. Mittens is here.”
I screamed as I’d never screamed before and fired. Watching in mute horror as the pellets ricocheted harmlessly off its furry red skin.
The thing only laughed and the laughter echoed within me, as well as without.
"Mittens is in the steel. In the sky. In the seats. Mittens is the songs you sing and the air you breathe. Mittens will never, ever leave. Mittens is here."
There were a few more pops and I caught glimpses of winged children standing behind it. Wearing capricious grins on their faces and white suits on their bodies, with lines of red around the cuffs that trailed up towards their collars.
Then, the beast reached out a hand to grab me.
And the world went black.