CHAPTER 54: Glimpse of Power
Everything was a mess. There was no final stand. No fighting back. It was hide or be squished.
Lucas had thrown Tom to someone, he didn’t remember who, as all his thoughts were about getting the attention of the Boss Testudinate and dodging the ones he threw. It was a mad dash that even if it had only been minutes, was as exhausting as the last few hours combined. Lucas had used his hammer to menace the eggs on the ground, earning him moos from the boss and more projectiles hurled at him.
The others had scattered, making sure not to group up while trying to find ridges, rock faces, and jagged outcroppings to obscure them from sight. The Testudinates who had been thrown either died from it, or their shells got dented, causing them to unfold. The ones who didn’t die became XP for Lucas as a hammer swing ended them easily. For as angry as the boss seemed he sure didn’t have an issue sacrificing his own people to attack Lucas who couldn’t even hurt them.
“This way!” Brittney yelled, trying to indicate a place where there was more room to dodge.
By fighting in the midst of the shell covered Testudinates, Lucas limited his area of movement, while also being threatened by rebounding eggs knocked about by the incoming one. He was wheezing from the effort and pain of his ribs. Lucas wasn’t sure how much longer he could go.
BOOM!
The explosive sound was so loud and contained such force that it shoved Lucas to the ground from behind, causing him to land face first. A whistling sound different from the hurled Testudinates increased in intensity. Lucas rolled himself onto his back, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get up, and looked towards the sound.
From above, something was falling towards them. It was moving faster than the thrown Testudinates. The red sky, which Lucas had gotten used to seeing, was torn and rippled, with a blackhole opened in it. The ripples were trying to push the black hole closed.
The object falling towards them was also red, though a different shade than the sky. It was falling in a direction away from them, but after being in the sky for a few seconds it shifted and the angle moved towards where the lead Testudinates were still in their shell forms.
Lucas expected a loud crash and big impact, but instead, right before the falling object hit the ground, it shifted and disappeared from sight. When Lucas blinked, he saw it right in front of a Testudinate. It was a man.
The man was red in skin, where he had skin, and naked, with significant chunks of his body missing. His right arm was a gory stump halfway between his elbow and shoulder. Part of his chest and side were missing, exposing his rib bones. Chunks of his neck were hanging off, ripped open but still partially attached. There was no hair anywhere on his head or body. Blood was flowing from all his open wounds. His face…well all Lucas could think was the expression on the face was one of extreme fury. Never had he seen someone that angry. It was a rage that would burn the whole world. Then the eyes that were faded with white turned towards Lucas and met his own.
In that moment, the fury softened.
“I knew it would work! I told you guys!” shrieked Tom as he hobbled out from his hiding spot, almost having to drag his broken leg. He fell and scrambled back to his feet more than once before he fell to his knees, spread his arms, and hugged Adam. With his face near the hole in Adam’s chest, Tom held on to Adam’s gory body as if he was a swimmer holding rocks to try to keep from being pulled away in the rapids. Then he whispered, “I knew you would come for us,” as he looked deep into Adam’s face.
Adam looked from Tom to the places where their team were coming out of and then to Lucas. Brittney ran over to help Lucas to his feet, never taking her eyes from Adam. As everyone was approaching, a whistling noise came from the direction of the Testudinate army. Lucas went to shout, but then saw Adam raise his left arm, hand glowing, not even looking where it was coming from. Adam’s fingers flapped around, clearly unusable.
When the egg shaped Testudinate arrived, it hit his glowing hand and then stopped, as if it had been floating there the whole time. Then it dropped to the ground. It was a testament to the faith everyone had that they had continued moving towards Adam even as the egg had approached.
“New power?” wheezed Lucas.
“Yes,” answered Adam with gravitas. “I call it Glowing Gloves.”
Everyone stopped and looked at him.
“Really?” asked Nick in disbelief.
“No, that’s a stupid name,” said Adam dismissively.
At that moment relief washed through everyone and some people sat on the ground, while others laughed heartily. Finally, there was a sense of rightness.
“Not to offend, boss, but I expected you to arrive, um, more whole?” said Tom as Randall helped him to his feet, giving Adam some space.
“And clothed,” said Brandon meekly.
“…not that you have anything to be ashamed about, boss. You have quite a healthy-looking, um, body, er, when your insides stay inside. And the parts meant to be outside are magnificent. Er, no, it’s your choice if you like being naked. You know what? You should go naked all the time, like the Spartans or Greeks from the original Olympics…” Tom rambled.
“Its fine,” said Adam flatly. “My clothes got burned off trying to get in here. My skin too. Though I probably look much better now than before.”
Another thrown Testudinate came flying in, but once more Adam stopped it with a glowing hand before letting it drop.
“Hmm…I guess I should fix some of me now.”
Adam walked to where one of the dead Testudinates had their shell opened. Very awkwardly he used his foot, knee, and left palm to lift it up. “Avert your eyes if you’re squeamish.”
“Dude, if we were squeamish, we wouldn’t have lasted the first fight with you,” said Nick.
Lifting the metal to his mouth, Adam then started pouring any fluid like gore from the corpse into his mouth.
“Herk! I stand corrected,” Nick turned away from him quickly.
What didn’t get absorbed as blood, Adam spat out of his mouth. When he was finished, his neck and chest had regrown. Another corpse saw growth on his missing arm and fixed his left fingers, making it easier for him to drink from a third corpse, which restored the rest of his arm.
“Whew. That’s much better. Though their blood tasted tangy like rust.”
“We didn’t need to know that,” said Carlos with his back turned.
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“Anyway, I’m a bit pissed off at these guys.” Adam closed his eyes and a few seconds later everyone felt Adam’s presence and anger through their restored connections to him. Energy and vitality rushed into them. The girls, receiving a bit more, all began crying in joy and hugging each other. Even Lucas wanted to cry as he felt that the world had become a better place.
Adams eyes were teary themselves as they opened, no longer with the white pupils of the dead.
“I thought you’d all be dead. You did an amazing job staying alive. Thank you,” he whispered. Then more strongly he said, “Now it’s vengeance time.”
The next thrown Testudinate coming towards them was caught by Adam, with both his restored hands glowing. While holding it he turned towards the Crusher. Using the force of a storm, he hurled the Testudinate at the Crusher with more power than it had come in. It didn’t need an arc to reach the boss Testudinate, smashing into its right shoulder and knocking it off its feet.
“Damnit!” yelled Tom. “We need that Eye of the Tiger song to play now!”
***
Glancing down at his glowing hands, Adam watched as the power flowed through them. He could feel the river raging inside, trying to pull him under after everything he had gone through. The whirlpools that he created in it coated his hands in an energy that wanted to repulse his enemies, repulse the air, and repulse even the world around him. As long as he didn’t push that energy outside of his body it felt like it would be under his control.
The connections that he reestablished with all his friends allowed their safety and survival to sink into him, to make it real. He felt their pain, exhaustion, and anger coming through strongly. That wasn’t all though, he also felt their hope and excitement at his being there with him.
Gratitude floated through the coolness in his head. Not the gratitude that his friends had from being rescued at such a desperate moment, but the gratitude he felt for his friends keeping him pushing forward. The soul corruption inside would push him to destroy his enemies, to kill the invaders, and to conquer, but those reasons only would just leave him a cauldron of anger.
Adam looked to his friends around him. Later he would feel the relief and joy of their survival. He would want to kiss Abbey, and play complain about Alissa and Andrea sticking to him. He would roll his eyes at Tom being the first to arrive and how awkward that was, as much from the missing chunks of himself as the nudity.
Now wasn’t the time for that. His soul and the fury of his river wouldn’t allow it. Anger consumed him.
His eyes passed over the landscape filled with invaders. Enemies that hurt his friends and people. Monsters that came to his world and stepped into his territory. So many that needed to know their place and pay for their crimes.
Adam snorted out a hot breath and then he jumped in the middle of grouped Testudinates. They immediately curled into their egg forms, but that wouldn’t stop Adam anymore. The energy on his hands intensified as he punched the Testudinate in front of him.
The impact created a force that repulsed the metal shell with even more strength than Adam’s normal punch would have. He felt the weight inside shift, the magic or pressure that was keeping the weak creature inside and contained broke. The egg blasted away from him and only travelled a few feet before it struck another.
Energy was transferred from the one he had punched into the new one, increased the force of their collision. A clang sounded out loudly followed by the death mooing of the one he had punched. The shell began to open, but the power from his energy infused punch wasn’t done with it as it spun away from its impact and into a second, third, and fourth before being spent.
That wasn’t all either. Every shell that was hit also flew away, extra force imparted to it by his glowing hands. Each Testudinate that was crashed into was forced away into others four more times. Then those hit struck four more still. The strength behind the impacts lessened with each chain until it dissipated, but after one punch the area around Adam was opened. Satisfaction filled Adam at seeing the overgeared weaklings smashed through.
So he jumped again, into another group of Testudinates. This time he tried forming the whirlpools in his feet. They came just as easily as in the hands, causing his feet to glow. A side kick was all he needed to knock around the despicable creatures. Clanging into each other, sometimes mooing their death knells, but always losing control of whatever held their shells tightly and protected them inside.
Adam was breathing heavily, though not due to exertion. Heat steamed from him, crisping the skin he had just regenerated. Occasionally he would pick up a cracked shell and drink the blood inside to heal the self-caused damage. There were a lot of invaders around him, a lot of justice to mete out. Or maybe vengeance. It didn’t really matter what it was to Adam as his consciousness was consumed by fury.
He roared and his foes whimpered as they tried to run, charge, and roll away from where he would land. There was no room for them to escape. Not that it mattered with how slowly the Testudinates moved. There would be no escape from Adam.
A punch, kick, and then leap would set groups clanging. His friends came behind him to farm the XP from ones that didn’t die directly from the impacts. Occasionally Adam would need to catch an egg hurled by the Crusher, but after three of those were caught and thrown back, the Testudinate boss was in just as big a rush to escape from Adam as the lower-level ones.
Adam didn’t revel in the death he brought or feel joy in the fall of the enemies. To him and his soul, this was the same as pruning hedges or sweeping the floor. It was only natural to clean up the filth that he found.
***
Adam stepped through the barrier. It was a bit of a challenge since only the top of the barrier wasn’t surrounded by earth. A barricade had been set up around the whole area, with numerous policemen patrolling and talking on their radios. Ambulances and triage stations were set up in two of the four driving paths leading away from the rift. Most of the car frames that had been scattered around had been sloppily moved back into the piles or used as part of the barricade.
As he looked around, a fist came at Adam, slamming into his chest. His dad stumbled back and looked very angry.
“Do you know how it feels to hear an explosion and find only parts of your son where all of him should be?! I know you’re a goddamned superhero, but to me you’re a son. Please treat me better than this! I’ve been scared shitless, not knowing if that explosion killed you!”
Adam sighed. “Sorry dad. I didn’t expect to be able to get through the barrier. I was just trying something. The explosion was it partially failing, but it worked enough for me to fall through the barrier.” His dad glared at him but said nothing else and shoved a pair of police uniform pants at him, which he put on while more of his group came through the barrier.
The next few hours were spent discussing things with Ron and the other police, getting checked out by the paramedics, and just checking everything to make sure there were no Testudinates still around. Before coming out they had retrieved the bodies of the police and had returned them now, even though they weren’t in good condition. Rick was still alive but hadn’t woken and was without his legs. So far, they couldn’t heal missing parts, so he and Carlos were taken to the hospital right away.
Hickory and Lilliard were traumatized. Adam had tried giving them some comfort through his connections, and while Lilliard had responded some, Hickory was a lost cause.
“They aren’t your responsibility,” Ron told him after seeing him look at them again. Adam shrugged.
“I’m sure I’ll get over it quickly. There’s something broken in me when it comes to the invaders. Well, several things really. Something in my soul is insisting that I grind them under by foot. It’s unwilling to forgive anyone who won’t fight or help. In my mind I know that we weren’t raised for this, but in my soul I expect every good man to get as strong as he can and push back. Then back in my head I agree with my soul, upbringings be damned.”
“Yes, I get that from you. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll do what you can and then move on. I think you’re done here. I’ll talk to the Sergeant and then take you and your dad home.”
“Yeah, I think I should go to our base though. After today the Sentinels might need some comfort and company.”
“As long as your dad is fine with it.”
Adam wandered around and told all his group that he would be staying at the base if they wanted to join him. He received lots of nods, as well as smiles from the girls. Exhaustion and pain were all around, so Adam planned to order pizza and watch some movies with everyone.
When he approached Lucas, he heard a weird conversation between him and one of the patrolling policemen.
“You didn’t see her either? She wasn’t still in there when we took the rift and her body wasn’t there so she must have come out,” Lucas was explaining.
“Sorry, I don’t know what to tell you. We would have seen her come out and no person like the one you described came out,” the officer answered.
“Who are you looking for?” Adam asked when they noticed him.
“There was this woman when we arrived. She was far from where we landed and I wanted to go rescue her, but I just couldn’t leave our team.”
“What did she look like?” asked Adam as he scowled.
“I didn’t really see her features since she was so far away, but I can confidently say she was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her looks put everyone else to shame,” Lucas said, his eyes unfocusing as if watching a dream.
“Damnit!” Adam swore. “That was the mind control invader!”