Now, Earth
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know, Bastien,” Gene said. He didn’t have any ideas that wouldn’t get them all killed. The super mutant was way too fast, strong and resistant to damage for them.
The fact that Nila and Veronica were barely staying ahead of it was proof enough.
“Oh shit!”
The super mutant sent Nila flying with one punch.
Gene had jinxed her.
“It’s not trying to hurt Vee,” Mads said as she lined up a shot.
Her shotgun barked and a spray of blood erupted from the super mutant’s back.
The behemoth didn’t even stumble.
Watch Commander Lawrence sent two bursts into the back of his knees.
The behemoth didn’t break stride.
“I’m just wasting rounds at this point,” Commander Lawrence spat.
Gene wracked his brain.
“Oh no!” Bastien’s eyes widened. He whipped his head around to Johnny, who was standing guard over the cultist some fifty yards away. “She’s doing something!”
“Fuc—” Johnny took a deep breath and ran away just in time.
The back of the cultist’s robes erupted.
Flesh-colored tentacles lashed out all around the woman.
“Mads!” Watch Commander Lawrence barked.
The two women opened up with unrestrained gunfire.
The rounds took chunks out of the tentacles and the cultist, but the wounds were bloodless and slowly healed.
“I don’t understand you people.” The woman rose to her feet. “You could have the same gifts, yet you fight against it. Don’t you want to live without fear? Men and monster, neither scares me anymore. Neither can hurt me now.” The tentacles from her back waved around her protectively, menacingly. The cuffs around her wrist fell off as she narrowed her hands. She did the same to her feet and ankles as she stepped out of the shackles.
“We only need the two,” the woman said flatly. “Kill the rest.”
The super mutant abruptly stopped its pursuit of Veronica and charged toward Gene and his friends with a bellow that shook the night sky.
“Spread out. I’ll draw it’s attention.” Watch Commander Lawrence emptied her magazines as she walked back.
Mads tried to snipe the eyes, but her shots went into the thick flesh of the super mutant’s cheek and bounced of the prominent ridge of his brow. Despite his body being grotesquely over-sized the super mutant’s eyes remained normal-sized.
Watch Commander Lawrence switched to her shotgun. She blasted the super mutant in the face while she ran right at it. She dived to one side at the last moment, just avoiding the behemoth’s hand.
The super mutant stomped after Watch Commander Lawrence, who lacked superhuman physical abilities. She wasn’t quick enough.
“On me!” Olo banged spear against shield.
The super mutant looked confused as his body moved on its own accord and charged the large young man.
“Bulwark!” Olo set his feet into a strong stance. He set his shield and spear. He didn’t blink as the behemoth closed in like speeding car.
The spear shaft snapped as the head drove into the super mutant’s gut.
The behemoth slammed into Olo’s shield. He sent the young man flying.
“Fireball!” Gene set the super mutant’s back on fire. “Quick cut!” His longsword flashed in the moonlight as it slashed at the behemoth’s achilles.
Gene wanted to limit the super mutant’s mobility, but the skin was just too tough, while the flesh was too thick. He couldn’t cut deep enough.
The behemoth turned.
Gene thrust his left hand at the super mutant’s eyes. “Magic Missile!”
The behemoth recoiled from the burst of bright purple light as the small orbs burned eyelid skin.
Still no luck.
Gene was screwed. He was too close and while he had Lesser Enhanced Reflexes he knew that wasn’t going to be enough to keep from getting smeared with one punch.
“Mage Shield!” A ghostly buckler materialized in Gene’s left hand. He willed as much mana into it as he could.
The super mutant punched.
Gene met it with his magic buckler.
It shattered along with several bones in his hand and arm, but he was still alive.
The super mutant looked confused. He shrugged then punched again.
“Quick Parry!” Gene’s sword flashed out. The technique was perfectly guided by his Skill.
It was just enough to deflect the super mutant’s fist, though it sent the sword flying out of Gene’s hand.
Gene turned and ran. Fear and adrenaline fueled his legs and numbed the pain from his hand and arm.
“Run to me!” Bastien stood tall with his halberd planted on the ground like a flag in front of him. He repeated a prayer, over and over in a soft voice. Every bit of faith he had went to it. He believed with all his heart and soul that the huge super mutant wasn’t going to be able to trample him. It wasn’t easy, but he couldn’t let any doubt creep into his thoughts.
Gene sprinted past Bastien and skidded across the wet grass on his backside when he tried to stop.
The super mutant was ten feet away from Bastien when it recoiled as if burned. He stumbled forward a few more steps as he fought against momentum.
There was nothing obviously visible around Bastien and the super mutant. Except for latter’s skin, which burned.
Flames lined the behemoth’s exposed flesh, curiously his rags weren’t touched. He scrambled back and rolled around on the grass until he smothered the flames.
Sweat beaded on Bastien’s forehead.
“Wow! I feel like I can take him on!” Gene said.
“Don’t, it’s an effect of my aura,” Bastien said through clenched teeth before he went back to the prayer.
“Right, right,” Gene nodded quickly. “Inspiration can be dangerous without actual ability to back it up… I remember,” he muttered.
The super mutant experimentally reached out toward the two young men. He drew his hand back with a hiss after he crossed the invisible barrier that extended from Bastien.
“How hurt?” The super mutant snuffed the flames out with a pat of his hand.
“Now this is interesting,” the woman cultist approached from the other side in all her tentacled glory.
“Screw you. Fucked up Doctor Octopus,” Gene said.
“Disrespectful. Insults and profanity masks your fear and inadequacy. I’ve worked with plenty of self-focused young people like you in my old life. I thought I was helping, but in truth I was only patching rips and tears. Society was broken long before the world actually broke.”
“Okay, lady… not interested in your cult crap,” Gene said. “I didn’t fall for that religion bullshit—,” he leaned over to Bastien, “no offense, I respect your choosing to have beliefs,” he whispered. He turned back to the cultist. “Not going to fall for it now that there are legit fishmen and you’ve got straight up body horror tentacles. I’m like ninety percent sure there’s some kind of horrible eldritch being masquerading as your so-called god.”
“Such disrespect. The Deep Azure is so much more than what our limited human intellect can comprehend.” The cultist opened her arms. “We offer safety and purpose. You get as much as you put in. In our world the haves will not exploit the have-nots.”
The cultist had walked closer as she spoke. She extended a tentacle and pulled it back as soon as it caught fire. “Very interesting. It feels different from magic. How long can you keep it up?”
“Ignore her, Bastien.” Gene raised his unbroken hand toward the cultist.
“Don’t,” Bastien hissed. “No magic, while I’ve got this up. I can feel it messing things up.”
Gene stopped gathering his mana and dropped his hand to his side. “No magic, right got it… what about normal, completely non-magical stuff?”
“I think that’s okay.”
Gene drew his glock and emptied the magazine into the cultist woman.
The cultist didn’t move. She didn’t bother to shield her body with her tentacles like she did earlier.
His aim was off on account of only having one hand on the grip. There were only four bullet holes scattered on the front of the cultist’s robes. Decent, but not great out of a 17-round magazine.
Gene was out of ammo.
“I am not surprised that you would react with violence to words you don’t like. The rot of your upbringing in evidence. Is it even possible for you to change? I am not so su—”
The cultist’s head rocked backed at the same time that a loud gunshot rang out. She staggered, but recovered quickly.
Gene grimaced as the bloodless wound in the cultist’s forehead ejected the slug as it closed.
“Are you even human anymore?”
“The Deep Azure has made me so much more.”
Another bang.
This time one of the tentacles exploded in a bloodless shower of fleshy chunk. Curiously, it didn’t re-form.
Bang!
Another tentacle.
The cultist woman hissed as her head whipped around wildly in search of her unseen assailant.
Gene smirked. Good luck with that, he thought. Mads was more effective the further away she was. His teammate was nowhere in sight. She had relocated during all the chaos.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The super mutant was spinning in circles trying to locate the source of Mads’ gunfire.
More gunfire.
Watch Commander Lawrence fired and moved at the cultist as she rushed to join Gene in Bastien’s protective embrace. She emptied her shotgun and switched to her sidearm.
The cultist woman turned and ran away into the darkness. She had made the calculation and didn’t like the answer.
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“Guys…” Bastien’s voice sounded alarmingly weak. “Can’t…” He wavered, teetered a moment then fell over.
The super mutant’s head snapped to the trio.
Bang!
A slug slammed into the back of the super mutant’s head. He ignored it.
“You annoy. Dangerous. Kill.”
Gene hit it with every spell he had left. Fire and light lit up the night. He drained his mana to a dangerous level. The nausea hit him hard and brought him to his knees.
Watch Commander Lawrence tossed her one grenade at the super mutant’s feet. Then covered Bastien’s unconscious form with her own body.
Chunks of dirt and grass showered down on them.
The smoke cleared to reveal the super mutant standing.
“No hurt.”
Watch Commander Lawrence took a position between the super mutant and the two young men. She drew her baton and knife.
The super mutant raised an arm as big around as a barrel of whiskey.
It blocked out the moon in Demi’s sight. The shadow covered her.
The super mutant suddenly stumbled.
“Hey, did you forget about me, dumbass?” Veronica ran past.
“Take girl.” The super mutant gave chase.
Veronica ran under the branches of a huge tree near the edge of the park.
The super mutant followed.
A small shape dropped from the branches and drove her baseball bat-like club into the back of the super mutant’s muscular neck.
Nila’s super strength strike caused the super mutant to stumble.
“What’s it going to take to knock you over!” Nila screamed.
“You too weak.”
The super mutant swiped at her.
Nila ducked out of the way.
“Now!”
Johnny seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind the super mutant. He slashed and stabbed at the back of the behemoth’s legs before vanishing just as abruptly.
The super mutant took a step and collapsed to his knees.
Johnny’s Skills made his blades cut deeper and find weaknesses.
Nila flipped over the super mutant’s grasping hands. She pushed it onto its chest with all her might. She slipped her bat around his neck, planted one knee in the middle of its upper block and pulled, pushed.
“Olo!”
The big young man jumped on top of the back of the super mutant’s thighs with his shield. “Bulwark!” The Skill lent him an element of immovability in violation of the accepted laws of physics.
The super mutant thrashed, but against expectations Nila and Olo managed to keep it down.
The behemoth choked and spat. His neck was so big that Nila had to keep her hands at shoulder-width apart.
Every muscle in her body strained to keep the super mutant down.
The behemoth planted his hands on the ground and slowly pushed up against Nila’s and Olo’s efforts.
They were losing.
Veronica swept the super mutant’s left hand out from under it with a kick. She followed through in one smooth motion. She flipped and spun on one hand, B-boy style, and kicked out the other hand.
Veronica continued the move and ended up on top of the super mutant’s right arm.
“Helping!” Gene ran forward and stabbed his sword into the super mutant’s hand, pining it to the ground.
Johnny suddenly appeared on top of the arm and added his short spears to the effort.
“Gah!” Gene flinched. “I hate when you do that!”
“Focus!” Nila said through her teeth. “Megan! Now!”
Megan emerged from the other side of the tree and nearly tripped as she ran to the super mutant.
The behemoth’s snarling face made her hesitate, but she needed to end this. Her daughters were in danger. She ignored the super mutant’s spit as globs of it hit her in the face.
Megan had discovered a terrifying aspect of her healing magic a long time ago. During the horrific fishmen attack on Old Sac. Where she almost lost her daughters and her life.
She focused the spell into the super mutant’s brain.
The slight damaged they had done to the behemoth’s brain healed.
Megan didn’t stop. She kept feeding her mana into the spell.
She didn’t know how or why it happened, but something strange happened when you tried to heal someone that didn’t need it. Cells reacted in unexpected ways. They grew out of control. Mutated.
In other words.
Tumors.
They started small, nestled within the super mutant’s brain.
Megan fed more and more of her mana. The tumors grew exponentially.
In a few seconds they were the size of a baseball.
The super mutant’s eyes bulged and it struggled harder.
They barely kept it down.
Megan bled from her eyes and nose as she neared her limits.
The tumors’ hard mass started to push the super mutant’s brain matter up against his thick skull.
More mana.
Megan screamed.
For her daughters.
The super mutant roared. His brain was being crushed into mush.
There was barely any space left.
His brain matter went the only place it could.
The super mutant’s eyes erupted.
Megan fell back, covered in the disgusting mix of fluids and viscera.
The super mutant’s death throes threw them off.
“Mom!” Veronica carried Megan away from dangerous limbs.
No one dared say a word while the behemoth flopped around on the ground like a fish until it finally fell still.
A loud chime sounded in all their heads.
“The fuck! Did you guys even notice that we had a Quest?” Johnny said. “I totally missed it.”
“Olo, make sure it’s dead,” Nila said. She didn’t have time to look at the Quest notifications. Johnny was right though, she hadn’t noticed the chime at the start of the fight.
“How?”
Nila pointed at the small axe at Olo’s belt.
“Oh… right.”
Olo cautiously approached the super mutant’s body and set to the task of separating body from head.
“Demi,” Nila continued, “take everyone back to HQ. I’ll get Tessa.”
Watch Commander Lawrence frowned. “Chen, if you thin—”
“No arguments. You’re out of ammo. They’re out of mana or injured,” Nila swept her hand to encompass the others. She didn’t say anything else, just sprinted at top speed to the west.
“Watch Commander Lawrence, please take care of my mom.” Veronica placed Megan’s unconscious form down and took off after Nila.
“Wait! Damn it!” Demi spat. “Stupid super people,” she muttered. She looked at her kids and stifled a curse. They looked wiped out. “Alright. We’re heading back.” She bent down and hefted Megan over her shoulders in a fireman’s carry.
“What do I do with the head?” Olo’s face made his disgust plain.
Demi sighed. “I suppose you should bring it along.”
Olo wasn’t happy with that, but dutifully lifted the beach ball-sized head and held it as far away from his body as possible.
“Man, I didn’t notice when we were in that life or death fight, but that thing stinks,” Johnny said. “God! Just look at it dripping all over the place. I’m going to be sick.”
“Button it up,” Demi barked. “Back to the car.”
“Bro, the super mutant must’ve gone all in on strength and Con,” Johnny said.
“Dex and Agility too. He was moving around pretty quick,” Bastien said.
“At least he dumped Int and Wis… probably,” Olo added.
“Shouldn’t be able to max more than two stats,” Gene said weakly.
“Is it just me or is it totally weird that he looks just like the ones in the games?” Johnny said.
“Not really. Remember the spires are probably pulling some of this shit out of our collective subconscious,” Olo said.
“Or our collective subconscious is pulling stuff out of actual things out there. So, the game makers might’ve actually been tapping into some kind of psychic knowledge on whatever the cult did to the poor guy to turn him into a super mutant,” Bastien said.
Demi didn’t understand half the words they were saying, but got the gist. She tuned out the rest of the conversation.
They were greeted by Mads and the woman cultist.
The latter was restrained on the ground.
Mads bent down and stabbed her knife into the cultist’s eye.
“What the hell are you doing?” Demi felt the rage rise in her chest.
Mads shrugged. “Stops her from regenerating.”
“Wow! How did you even?” Johnny eyed the cultist dubiously.
“I got lucky that she ran this way. Shot her knees out. Then her tentacles. Had a hunch so I stabbed her brain.”
“Wait. You shot her in the head. That didn’t stop her.” Gene’s face was a pale, twisted mask. The adrenaline had worn off and his arm throbbed with pain.
“Slug must’ve been too small. I guess the knife is big enough to scrambled her ability to think. Just have to keep doing it, I guess.”
Demi didn’t know what to think. “Put her in the back. Mads and Johnny, you two are responsible for making sure she doesn’t wake up.”
The most important thing was to get back to safety. If that was even possible at this point. There were an unknown number of fishmen out there somewhere. Along with cultists that probably had similar horrible abilities to what the bound woman Olo loaded into the back of truck possessed.
She dared not think of the likelihood that there were other mutated men out there. She had emptied all of her ammunition into the giant for all the good it did. Spitting on him would’ve yielded the same effect.
Too many threats that she didn’t feel confident about beating with the weapons at her disposal.
Two of the top four barely cut it against the so-called super mutant. And they were heading into the dangers of an unknown situation that might’ve claimed the third.
As for their strongest weapon. As far as Demi knew, he was headed right into an entire army of super mutants and cultist’s with terrible abilities.
She’d have to figure out what to do about the cultist later.
----------------------------------------
The cultist forces almost cut Remy and Hanna off before they could get to the industrial block. It was like the cult knew their plans.
Remy wondered if there was more to the feeling that he was being watched than stress and paranoia.
As it was, they barely made it into the warehouse ahead of a blue beam that would’ve taken Hanna in the back had Remy not blocked it with a manhole cover he plucked from the street.
The effort had caused him a staggering amount of pain. So much so that Hanna had to drag him the rest of the way into the dark, dusty warehouse.
“Your plan kinda sucks,” Hanna said flatly.
“I guess have to be honest,” Remy sighed. “I’ve been able to rely on overpowering everything I’ve come up against. Fighting on a more even playing field isn’t something I’m used to.”
“Welcome to the world of us mere mortals.”
“If if remember correctly… you’re a couple steps above those so-called mere mortals.”
“Meh.”
A blue beam cut across the warehouse walls, nowhere near them
“That guy is getting annoying,” Hanna said. “So, back to your plan?”
“Let’s move deeper into the district. I want to draw them all in.”
“And how are we getting away after?”
Remy didn’t say anything. He jogged to the north end of the warehouse until he reached the wall. He quickly ripped an opening with his hands and continued on to the next building. Its brick wall only managed to marginally slow him down.
They had gone through three different buildings when Remy finally had a bit of luck.
“This is a good place to fight.”
“I can see why you’d think that,” Hanna whistled.
The building was a foundry of some kind. There was metal all over the place. Raw materials and finished products along with every step in between.
“An open space, but all the machinery and smelters, not to mention the junk everywhere… yeah this can work. We can hit and run,” Hanna said. “So… the plan? I mean it’d be a cakewalk if you could use your full power with all this metal.”
“I’m still stronger and faster than anything they’ve got. Even those weredogs aren’t quite on my level.” Remy laid a hand on a neat pile of steel ingots, flat blanks. “Doing this doesn’t hurt as much.” The steel liquefied as it flowed up his arm and over the rest of his body. It took less than a minute and the waist-high pile was empty.
Remy was covered in steel armor. He had changed the molecular structure and made the steel thinner, but denser than possible according to established material science. He had even maintained complete articulation for all of his joints.
“I know a bit about forging metals. That should’ve been impossible,” Hanna shook her head. “Nice look. Going for the Iron Man aesthetic? Think you could do one for me?”
“Not happy with what I already made for you?” Remy arched a brow.
“Love it, it’s great!” Hanna tapped the thin steel that covered her chest. Front and back, knight-style, except it was tougher than historically possible, while actually being lighter thanks to Remy. “The mail’s good too.” Hanna waved her arms and the rings jingled softly. “Way lighter than the period authentic stuff I used to wear.” She pointed at Remy’s exposed head. “Don’t forget the helmet.”
“Never forget the helmet.” Metal flowed from Remy’s shoulders and covered his head. He left small openings for his eyes, ears, below his nose and his mouth, but created a mesh of metal over them. “I can’t make you a set. You wouldn’t be able to move and you’d probably pass out in the middle of the fight. Besides, I’m planning on being a desirable target. You wouldn’t be able to survive.”
“Fair enough. I like the sound of that. Good luck.”
Hanna melted away into the foundry’s shadows.
Remy walked toward the entrance closest to the sounds of pursuit from outside.
A blue beam cut diagonally through the large roll up door. The edges of the cut metal burned bright red as the door fell open.
He steeled himself for the fight, figuratively this time. He had grappled with the idea of killing other people. He had decided that if he wanted to be around to keep his family safe then he could no longer avoid it.
A fate worse than death.
The Quest’s words burned in his mind’s eye.
He would do whatever it took to keep his family free from that.
Remy sent a steel ingot into the first cultist that came through the opening.
The crack of the man’s rib cage caving in made him wince, but he clenched his jaw and did his best to dismiss the implication.
More cultists poured through the opening.
Remy bombarded them with ingots.
Gunfire plinked off his armor.
The cultists were going to need antitank weapons to get through.
A fireball exploded in his face and stole the oxygen from his lungs.
Remy took cover behind a big piece of machinery. Then ran deeper into the warehouse. He wanted them all inside.