Tanner checked the main room of the building. Men in black suits blocked the main

access down to the room below the church. He had to get by them before he could try

to stop whatever Amenophis was doing to Givens.

He checked his timer as he pulled back. The Gold Man was almost out of time. Did

he want to call it back, or resort to another form? He needed a shooter to get through

the forces acting as a barrier. If he went with brute force, they would pour fire into his

altered form until he was down.

He couldn’t afford a delay. Givens might already be close to dead by now. He had to

make a decision and make his move.

He checked his options as he poured over the powers he had unlocked. He had

literally dozens of abilities that could be generated by the keyboard. If he moved up

to the fourth key despite the warning he had been given, he might have more powers

he had never used, or combinations of what he was already using into something new.

He decided on the Shooter. It was straight forward, and the ammo might punch

through whatever skill Amenophis was using as his shield. He keyed in the call.

The change washed over Tanner. He flexed his hands. Guns flickered as he pretended

he held weapons. He nodded.

He stepped out of the door leading to the belfry. He rushed forward. Blasts of sound

struck the guards like hammers in front of the charging vigilante. That was enough

to put them down as he ran toward them.

Tanner used the guns on the door leading downstairs. He wanted them thinking about

him, and not what they were going to do with the stolen kid.

The door sprouted holes before it jumped out of the way. No one shot back from the

other side of the door.

Tanner paused at the door, taking cover behind the wall next to the opening. He heard

chanting. Whatever was going on was happening. He had to get downstairs and stop

it before Givens was gone for good.

He took a deep breath. He could do this. The Shooter still had plenty of time and if

he took out some of the rats, that was the price he would have to pay.

Tanner headed down the stairs, hands at the ready. Fireballs tried to set him on fire

halfway down the steps. He fired back as he looked for cover. He hopped over a rail,

and shot two men while they were still trying to set him on fire.

Men in robes stood around the table. They held jars in front of them as they chanted.

Givens had been forced into a skirt of some kind. He pulled on the chains holding

him to the disguised altar.

Tanner decided the quickest way to end things was to smash the jars. Once free of

contents, the jars would be useless.

“What are you doing here?,” Amenophis stepped out of the shadows. He had changed

his shirt and pants for a metal collar and a belted skirt. “You are in the way of my

creating.”

“Stuff happens,” said Tanner. He noted a wave of air heading his way. He threw

himself forward, firing from both hands as he fell.

His slugs ripped through the jars, shattering them in the hands of the acolytes. The

men fell back as tendrils of energy whipped into the open air.

“What have you done?,” screamed Amenophis. Green light erupted from his eyes.

“What have you done?”

“Ruined your plan,” said the Scarab Girl. She shot him with an expanding net from

a channel in the back of her gauntlet. “Sit down while we try to fix the rest of this.”

The tendrils leaped to where Givens had been chained down. They entered his mouth

before anyone could do anything to stop them.

“I don’t think that’s good at all,” said Tanner. He shot one of the acolytes in the leg

to get him out of the way. “What were you guys doing?”

The cocoon split apart as Amenophis pulled the threads apart with his bare hands. He

glared at the interloping kids. Scarab Girl shot him with more of the net shells until

he was completely buried in the webbing.

Givens exploded from his chains. He looked around with eyes on fire, and a smile

that was way too wide for a human boy.

“Greetings, humans,” said the transformed Givens. “It is excellent to have a human

body again. Sharing it with these others is a trial, but I will get used to it eventually,

I suppose.”

“What about the boy?,” asked Tanner. He shot one of his opponents too dumb to run

for it in the foot. He kicked the hopping man out of his way. “He has a life.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Not anymore,” said the new Givens. “I had to eat him to become the king of this

conglomeration.”

“You killed Givens?,” asked Tanner. He raised his hands. He still had time to deal

with this monster. It couldn’t be allowed to escape after all this.

“Essentially,” said the monster. “I didn’t need him getting in the way while I took

control. And with the spellwork in place, it was tremendously easy.”

Tanner shot the body in front of him. He had failed to save Givens. He wasn’t going

to see him being used as a puppet by a gloating thing.

The bullet bounced off a stone chest. Givens smiled even wider if that was possible.

He threw a sheet of flame at Tanner and Scarab Girl. He could have fun with these

two.

Tanner threw himself to the side. His Shooter ability gave him an insight on where

things would move and that was enough to let him jump out of the way of the blast.

Foam wrapped the floating boy. A spark flickered as it tried to fight through the

confinement. A green boot landed in the angry face trying to set things on fire.

“My dad knows an exorcist,” said Scarab Girl. “We’ll get you out of there and put

you back in your jars.”

Tanner winced at that. He had destroyed the jars in his haste. He should have shot the

jar holders.

The web cocoon ripped apart to allow Amenophis to step forward. He glared at the

two children who dared to oppose him. The foam on the other side of the room

exploded under a waterspout.

The Shooter ran out of time to some cursing.

“My revivalist,” said Givens. “You have done some good work.”

“I will have to start over from the look of it,” said Amenophis. “The plan was for you

to be my weapon. Running amuck was not part of that.”

“No one gets what they want all the time,” said Givens. He directed water at his

creator. It evaporated in the air as it crossed the room.

“I do,” said Amenophis. He gestured. Givens screamed in pain. He hit the ground,

writhing. “I don’t think I need to explain your place in the scheme of things.”

“He’s getting exorcized,” said Tanner. He gestured with a hand. The table came to life

and charged Amenophis. The magician paused for a moment, and then the table had

rammed him into the wall. The legs did their best to kick him while he was down.

Givens writhed on the floor. Tanner wanted to help him. This was all his fault. If he

hadn’t shattered the jars, none of this would have happened. Givens rolled so that

they could see his smiling face. Then he slapped the stone floor with the palm of a

stony hand.

Ripples of stone formed a circle of spears spinning around Givens. They spun into a

stabbing ring at the two children. These heroic kids should not be allowed to grow up

to be heroic adults.

Scarab Girl swung over the moving fencework. She landed with both feet on Givens’s

head. She bounced away before he could set her on fire.

Tanner waved a hand. His ability worked against the control Givens exerted. A spear

started fighting its brothers to protect him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he tried to

think of a solution to this problem.

Amenophis hit him with the table after shrugging it off. He glared at the room. These

children had cost too much of his effort to create a perfect warrior. Was it worth to

kill them? He considered that as another shell flew at his head from Scarab Girl’s

wrist gun. He ducked under it. A net spread across the wall behind him.

The very least he should was rip the spirits out of Givens and put them into something

he could use as storage.

He grabbed a discarded bottle as he approached the spinning spears. His men had

retreated in the face of this. He didn’t want otherwise. It was better to handle this

himself than hope one of his men got lucky and saved the day without getting killed.

Amenophis flowed around the spears like a cloud of sand. He waved Scarab Girl out

of his way. She should have known better than to get involved in this. The Scarabs

and he were old enemies. Killing the latest wouldn’t raise a drop of sweat on his

brow.

Givens looked groggy. That was good. That made his exorcism all the easier. One

spoken command and a seal on the bottle should take care of things.

Once the spirits had been reclaimed, the boy would be as good as dead if the king had

spoken the truth. Destroying the boy would be the key to using his body, but usually

the spirit just pushed his ride’s mind under.

An exorcism might be enough to restore his mind.

If it was gone, that was a pity, but it didn’t concern Amenophis all that much.

Givens hit his creator with a stone fist. The magician flew across the room. The

changed boy stood. He saw the odds. It was him versus the three of them. He should

make his escape before Amenophis could make good on his threat.

He sent a wave of flame out as a distraction. He used the dancing spears to carry him

out of the room. His laughter drifted down on his enemies.

Scarab Girl checked Tanner. He seemed to be having problems focusing. She didn’t

want to take on Amenophis by herself. She didn’t see any way out of the

confrontation.

“That didn’t go near as well as I had planned,” said Amenophis. He brushed the blood

off his face with a flick of his hand. “I should kill you both for the trouble you have

caused.”

“Do you really want to waste your time while your perfect weapon is escaping?,” said

Scarab Girl.

“The next time we meet, it will end differently for you if you cross me,” said

Amenophis. “Don’t doubt that.”

“I look forward to the chance to cross swords with you again,” said Scarab Girl.

“Yes,” said Amenophis. He walked away from them. One hand brushed aside the

flame that reached for him.

“Are you awake?,” asked Scarab Girl. She slapped Tanner’s face. He blinked at the

impact. “Are you awake?”

“Hurt,” said Tanner. Pain ran through his back. He couldn’t move. He must have

taken a bigger hit than he thought. “Need a hand.”

“I’ll get you out of here,” said Scarab Girl. “Hold on.”

“No,” said Tanner. “Left hand. Left hand.”

“What?,” said Scarab Girl. “Left hand?”

“Yes,” said Tanner. “My hand.”

Scarab Girl picked up the hand. She saw a scarred fingerprint on his index finger.

“What do you want me to do with this?,” she asked.

“Right forearm,” said Tanner. “Need you to touch spaces with index finger.”

Scarab Girl shifted the other arm. Scars that looked like a keyboard ran down the

forearm from wrist to elbow.

“Top row, third space in,” said Tanner. “Index finger.”

She did what he wanted. The space flared under the skin. He gave her directions for

the other two keys. He pushed up to his knees.

“Looks like we lost,” Tanner said.

“But we’re alive,” said Scarab Girl. “Let’s get out of here.”