“This can’t be happening!” Sophia hyperventilated with fear, her pupils wide.
“What’s going on?” Danny asked, but nobody answered him.
“It’s going to be okay,” Rose lied, taking her brother’s hand. “Dad?”
“I’m getting us out of here.” With a screech, they sped away at high speed, regardless of traffic laws. Rose flinched as gunfire rang out as the police opened fire on the mysterious motorcyclist.
“What is he?” Sophia asked, her voice shaking. “The bullets aren’t even bothering him!” Despite several shots going into his skull, their attacker didn’t even flinch. There wasn’t even any blood.
That had been a mistake. Each cop car spun out of control as its driver died. The Altair attacked with such speed that Rose was uncertain about what had occurred.
“Please God.” Rose closed her eyes, repeating those simple words. Every worst-case scenario flashed through her mind. This was everything her future self had warned about.
“Hey, careful. Any tighter, and you’ll break my hand,” Sophia said with a weak smile. Without realizing it, Rose had grabbed her older sister’s hand.
“I won’t let anything happen to you!” Rose said, determination crystallizing in her heart. She refused to be a helpless victim. She refused to allow her sister or anyone else to die! Rose swore she’d change fate, even if she had to tear it apart with her bare hands! She opened her phone and furiously tapped at the screen.
“But what can we do?” Sophia asked. “Your giant robot’s miles away.”
“It can fly, right?” Hans said, finally speaking. He had his hands clenched together in fists, wrought with tension.
“What’s going on?” Danny asked, concerned about the fear his sisters were displaying.
“Thought so!” A wolfish grin stretched across Rose’s features. Agent Sandage had just confirmed what she’d suspected. Sensing the danger to its pilot, the Luyten V had launched itself. From the trajectory and speed of its flight, her robot would be here in approximately ten minutes. They only needed to survive that long.
Despite driving at full speed, the Altair motorcyclist continued to gain from them. Seeing how bullets had no effect, her bodyguard became bold and rammed his car into the motorist’s vehicle. At the speeds they were driving, the much smaller vehicle careened off course and crashed into a ditch.
But her father didn’t relax his hold on the steering wheel, pushing his vehicle even faster. Rose caught a blur as she glanced back, and then screamed as something solid landed on the roof. It bent under the weight of whatever had landed on it.
“Was that a bird?” Danny asked, confused. His little head glanced up, frowning as he noticed the dent in the roof.
They screamed as hands tore into the ceiling above them, rending it apart like a sardine can.
“Found you.” A youthful face stared down at them, but nothing human showed behind its eyes.
“Get off, you—” Her father swore, swerving the car in a zigzag motion to try to rip their unwanted passenger free.
“Hey!” the Altair said, glaring at her father as he struggled to keep hold of his perch. Despite her father’s efforts, he remained firmly in place.
“What a nuisance. Best I just kill you right here,” the stranger said, raising a hand. Despite not holding a weapon, his empty hands seemed more dangerous than a tank.
Desperate, her father did something crazy. He purposely drove into a utility pole. The impact jerked Rose forward painfully, like the hands of God had shaken her. The car hissed, smoke rising from its engine. Her father groaned, groggy, his nose bleeding as he pulled away from the airbag that had erupted to protect his head from the steering wheel. But the impact had done its job, throwing their attacker dozens of feet into a patch of rocky terrain. Was this it? Had the Altair died from the impact?
Not caring about the Altair’s fate, her dad struggled to start the car so they might drive to safety. But it failed to start, the engine crying out pitifully.
“Are you okay?” Brown asked, running up to their vehicle. In his hand was his service pistol. His car stood parked by the side of the road.
“I think so.” The seatbelt keeping her in place had saved her life, but it left her sore. She’d feel that in the morning.
“I’m fine,” Sophia said, straightening strands of hair that had come loose.
“I’ll manage,” Hans said.
“That was fun!” Danny said, laughing. But any mirth faded as Rose saw their attacker standing right in front of their van, his face unamused. Could nothing hurt this monster?
“Enough.” As he raised an arm to attack, a bullet struck him right in the skull.
“Get going!” Brown fired another round into the Altair, using Rose’s family van for cover. Rose’s heart raced. Her bodyguard was sacrificing himself to save her!
Her father uttered an oath as he tried again and failed to start his van. Rose gasped as the Altair smacked her father across the head, his body going limp.
“No!” Rose stood rigid. Had her father just died? This must be a bad dream, right? This couldn’t be happening.
“You aren’t going anywhere. And you?” the Altair said, sending Brown a baleful glare. This was it. Brown was going to die next! Sirens blared in the distance, but they wouldn’t arrive in time to save them.
With impossible speed, the Altair threw a devastating haymaker at her bodyguard. But Brown was just as quick, ducking under the blow and continuing to fire into the Altair’s chest. Still, it did nothing, Brown howling as a backward blow sent him flying against a nearby fence, bending it. He didn’t rise again, and Rose was unsure if he was breathing.
“Rue, we have to get out of here,” Sophia said, tugging at her arm. Hans dragged her over to his seat with surprising strength, giving her sister a nod.
“Sophia, what’s wrong? What happened to Dad?” Danny asked, his fear palpable. He realized something was wrong.
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“Huh?” Rose said, slowly emerging from her terrified stupor. “But what about Dad, Hans, Danny?”
“It’s after you, right? It should leave them alone,” Sophia argued. But Rose only frowned, not convinced. She didn’t protest as her older sister dragged her from the van. Hans shook his head, indicating she must leave.
“Go! Run as fast as you can!” Sophia said, giving her a push.
“What about you?” Rose asked, heart beating a mile a minute. Was she planning on doing something foolish? No, not more pointless sacrifices!
But Rose didn’t argue. Fear told her she had little choice. She wanted to scream against the heavens, demanding it bring back everyone she’d already lost. Instead, she put her bodyguard’s training to good use and ran like the devil himself was chasing after her.
“Really?” the Altair said, amused. Instead of chasing after her, he allowed her to gain some distance. Her pitiful attempts to save herself amused him.
“Leave my sister alone!” Sophia said, slamming something hard against the Altair’s skull. Was it their car scraper?
“You humans,” the Altair said, amused. Rose continued to gain some distance, but the Altair didn’t seem too concerned. “You try so hard to protect your own kin. Bullets and a car crash barely hurt me, but you insist on fighting me anyway, just for a few precious seconds. You have tenacity. I’ll give you that.”
Rose waved at a nearby car that was driving in the other direction. Not caring if she got hurt, she ran right in front of the vehicle. Maybe if she got into this car, the Altair would abandon his attack on her sister and focus on her.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” the aged driver cried, furrowing his brow.
“Harold, what’s wrong?” his wife asked, a matronly old woman. “Has there been an accident?”
“I’m not sure, Jane. What’s the matter, young lady?” the man asked, all kindness.
Before Rose could reply, something hurled into her rescuer’s vehicle, throwing it end over end. Rose gasped. It was the bumper of their van.
“But in the end, it is futile,” the Altair said, standing behind her.
Instead of being scared, fury flared in her heart. She hurled every insult in her vocabulary while inventing new ones. It was too much. Those nice people didn’t deserve what had happened to them; none of his victims had. She refused to allow more people to get hurt because of her. Rose glared at him, daring him to try something.
Her sudden defiance took the Altair aback. Rose only glared at him harder.
“Humans. You make no sense!” the Altair said, shaking his head. “Your madness alone makes you a dangerous species. You literally would rather die than surrender. Remarkable.”
Then Altair’s expression turned thoughtful before his mouth widened into a grin that extended far past his face. “Why not! You deserve a reward! I’ll show you my true form. I wonder if your little defiance will continue to stand, then!”
A scream escaped Rose’s lips as she stepped back, her mind struggling to comprehend what she was seeing. The disguised Altair’s body expanded like an inflatable balloon, skin tearing as his innards became too large for his flesh. Finally, his outer layer burst apart entirely like a garment torn because its owner had gotten too large. Unlike the previous Altair, this monstrosity was all sharp angles, resembling nothing like any animal Rose had ever seen. Its face was beak-like, its tip sharp enough to pierce a building. Worse yet, the monster continued to expand until he dwarfed a six-story building.
“Well, are you still feeling brave, little human?” Okab’s eyeless face smiled a cat-like grin at her, its voice booming like a loudspeaker. Rose howled in pain, falling to her knees.
“I…” Rose’s courage failed her as she gapped at the monstrosity that had once seemed like an ordinary man. How had he even grown this big? Where had he gotten the mass?
“Rose, run!” Her sister cried from somewhere nearby, but her limbs failed to work.
Police sirens flared as more cop cars drove onto the scene, but they stared out their vehicles in wide-eyed shock at the monster they hadn’t a chance to fight.
Rose watched her battered, but alive, father drag himself from the remains of his vehicle. Hans helped him, giving Rose a desperate look.
“You!” Rose screamed in helpless fury. While her father’s survival brightened her heart, it didn’t matter. This creature would destroy them all, and she couldn’t stop it. In frustration, she kicked at Altair’s leg.
“Still fighting?” the monster said, amused. Rose yelped in surprise as two fingers tore her from the ground, she flailed helplessly in the creature's grip.
“Rose!” her father called, his voice equal parts fear and despair.
Her heart stopped as she stood right in front of Altair’s mouth, its rancid breath making her gag. Rose put on her bravest face, defiant to the end.
After an amused chuckle, Altair opened his mouth, eager to consume this morsel alive and screaming. Then the sound of roaring engines caught her attention.
“What?” the monster howled in pain as a beam lanced into its chest, hurling it back. Rose screamed as she fell dozens of stories to her doom. But a gentle tendril grabbed her and whipped her inside her rescuer.
Rose shook her head, disoriented, and gasped as she found herself in the warm embrace of Luyten V’s cockpit. “You sure took your time!” But she was smiling, relieved she’d just escaped death.
“Let’s go, Luyten V!” The robot roared as it got ready for combat. Rose joined in eager to make this jerk pay for threatening her family.
“Huh?” Altair’s eyeless face squinted at Rose’s rescuer, puzzled. “Where’d you come from? How could they order your… never mind. I’ll destroy both of you at once! Know the name of your destroyer, Okab the Terminator, General of the Altair!”
“General?” Doubt flashed in Rose’s heart. She’d assumed this guy was only another small fry, not a bigwig bad guy. But she shook her head. She’d kick this guy’s butt, too.
The earth trembled as Okab blocked the devastating punch Rose had thrown at her opponent. Sirens wailed as Okab used his needle-like nose to slash across Luyten V’s chest. While it hadn’t pierced, damage systems reported it had left a deep gash. Ticked off, Rose shot a beam from Luyten V’s forehead point-blank. But with incredible agility, Okab only leaped away.
For a creature of his size, Okab moved with cat-like grace as he slashed his arm at her. It left another deep gash in Luyten V’s carapace. Rose caught the Altair with a sudden punch, but each edge on Altair’s body was a deadly blade, and metal squealed as it sliced into Luyten V’s hand.
Rose cursed. She needed to be more careful where she hit this monster. Altair was slippery, too, always seeming to be somewhere else when she tried attacking him. Much to Rose’s dismay, she realized the Altair was only playing with her. Okab seemed to enjoy toying with her as she struggled to defend herself.
“Darn it!” Rose slammed her console in frustration as another punch caught one of the Altair general’s edges. The monster had jerked his body that way on purpose to spoil her attack. Meanwhile, Okab was picking her apart piecemeal, leaving ever-deepening gashes across Luyten V’s armor.
“What now?” Should she go to overclock mode? It might catch the monster off guard. But the Altair was so quick that overclock mode might boil Luyten V’s systems before they inflicted any real damage.
Before she could decide, Okab rocked as something collided with his head. Had that been an explosion? Another flash lit up the Altair general’s ear, followed by a series of explosions. On her radar, she noticed several figures zipping towards them. Were they aircraft bombers? As Rose puzzled this out, her phone rang.
“Hey, Rose! Thought you might want some backup!” Sandage, the older man’s smiling face, said as she arranged her phone to be visible across the console as she piloted Luyten V.
“What are you thinking? You’re only going to get people hurt!” Rose said, scolding the LUVOLT agent.
“We won’t let you face this monster alone. The Altair scout caught us flatfooted, but now we’re prepared.” Sandage said, Rose watching as another explosion struck Okab. Much to her disappointment, it did little beyond annoying the monster.
“But your attacks still aren’t doing anything,” Rose said.
Sandage let out a long sigh. “So it seems. We’re testing what’s effective against these monsters. Those were experimental weapons. They did little, sadly. But now we know. Pity Project Bird Bath isn’t ready, but we’ve learned a few things.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it. Strike now while the monster’s distracted.”
“The monster’s name is Okab. He’s a general of the Altair.”
“What?” This took Sandage aback. “The monster spoke to you?”
“Yes, a real cruel jerk, too. These things can think like humans.” Though, how their minds worked puzzled Rose. Did it have a brain? Did it grow as Okab grew in size?
“Hmm. Thanks for the intel. Gold will love to hear about this. Anyway, get going. Those jets are getting low on missiles. Back up is almost an hour away.”
“Okay.” She’d seen monster movies before and knew what happened to tanks and the like after they failed to scratch the giant monster. Still, the massive payloads annoyed the Altair, leaving tiny scorch marks across its armor.
“No time to hold back!” With a flick of several switches, Rose activated overclock mode. Sweat trickled down her neck as her robot charged. With the monster distracted by the incoming missiles, it hadn’t seen her next punch coming.
“What?” Okab said in surprise as a punch created a deep crack along his armor, the Altair general staggering back. Another punch to the jaw laid him out flat, dazing him. The monster clearly hadn’t expected the sudden boost in power.
“It’s time to finish this.” Sweat drenched her as the cockpit’s interior temperature kept rising. By her estimate, it rose about 10 degrees every 30 seconds. If it went over 100 degrees, Rose feared her chances. Luyten V’s palm sparked with energy as she got ready to unleash her finishing move on the prone Altair.
But Okab recovered quicker than she’d expected, Rose yelping in surprise as a sudden tail whip knocked Luyten V off balance. The Altair general skittered away to a safe distance, assessing his opponent.
“No. Not yet, Rosemary Brahe. I think that’s enough for today,” Okab said. “I realize I must reassess my approach. You are a dangerous foe. I’ll leave for today, but watch yourself. You are my prey. I won’t stop until I destroy you!”
With the speed of an oncoming freight train, Okab sped away from Minneapolis to parts unknown. Rose gave chase, deactivating the overclock system as Luyten V tore great swaths through an empty field. But Okab dove into the ground, tunneling so deep that Luyten V hadn’t a chance to give chase. Rose slammed her console in frustration, knowing she’d lost a good moment to defeat a dangerous foe.
“Dang it! Okab must have seen Luyten V’s capabilities and assumed the worst.” He hadn’t known that Luyten V could only use that mode for a few minutes at best. She’d surprised and sucker punched him, but he won’t be so careless next time. In their next battle, he’d play for keeps.
“Fine then, so will I!” They needed to get stronger. Overclock mode was a last resort at best. Rose patted Luyten V’s controls lovingly. “Luyten V, if we don’t unlock your secrets, I fear we don’t stand a chance.”
She’d come too close to losing everything. Rose smiled, showing a feral grin. Next time, she’d be full of nasty surprises, too.