Tessa stood on the side of the several hundred-meter-tall structure. Her feet were planted on the metallic surface, held in place by the magnetic fields she struggled to hold at a simmer.
It was a new application of her power. Up until the recent months she had thought all she could do was express her power in short bursts. Enough to launch metal projectiles at hypersonic speeds from her hands.
Working with her dad over the last few months had expanded what she could do.
She stared down at a monster-packed street of Orchestral Meridian. Once gleaming metallic surfaces had been darkened long ago by the accumulated dust and grime of years. The blood and guts of open warfare was added to this in recent times.
Tessa pulled two heaping handfuls of small metal balls from the compartments at her waist. The display in her faceplate zoomed in on the targets. A mass of skinless Threnosh swarmed around a pair of Inheritors.
She aimed and gathered her power along her arms, to her hands. The metal balls floated free from her hands, held within her magnetic power. The air around her seemed to crackle.
She released it with a thought.
Boom!
Ultra-dense balls shattered the quiet air.
Hundreds died in less than a second.
She had turned the skinless and the Inheritors into red smears on the once-gleaming street.
“Designation: Tessa. Strike recorded. Hold for further instructions.”
“Sure, but they’re starting to climb. No worries though, I’ve got a few minutes before they get to me,” Tessa said.
“Acknowledged. Await further instructions,” the communicator replied.
She sighed.
The skinless climbed up the side of the structure on claws sharp enough to pierce the metallic surface.
“Free fire.”
“Oh… joy…”
Tessa fired a barrage of metal balls into the skinless, wiping them off the side of the structure. She should’ve been thrilled at putting the things out of their misery, but the only thing she could think about was the music in her head. It seemed to grow louder and insistent the more she tried to not think about it.
The sound of pulped flesh wasn’t drowning the song out.
“Relocate. Transmitting coordinates.”
“Acknowledged,” Tessa said.
The location pinged on her faceplate a few moments later.
Tessa released her power against the side of the structure. She shot free like a bullet and sent one last blast of metal balls at the skinless several hundred meters below her.
She soared through the sky, protected from the wind by her Threnosh armor.
It wasn’t true flight, so a roof soon loomed large in her vision. She tucked into a ball and spun until her feet were pointed toward the roof. She gathered her power at her feet and released it right before she touched down boosting herself back into the air.
Tessa traversed through miles of the city sector in minutes.
“Tessa, it’s Dad. There’s a couple of Inheritors where you’re going. Be careful, I’m tied down right now, but I’ll try to make it to you as soon as I can.” A familiar voice in her comms. The sound of which in the last several weeks had mostly elicited annoyance.
Tessa stifled a complaint. Something about not being a baby anymore. That was something a baby would say, so she didn’t. “Understood.”
She landed on yet another roof with a thud.
“I’ve got Tylox and the big guy here,” Tessa said as she spotted more Inheritors.
“Pull back. Don’t engage,” her dad said.
“I got this. I’ll keep my distance… mostly.”
“Tessa, don’t—”
“Too late, they see me. I can’t disengage.” Tessa drew the kanabo from her back and leapt.
Her free arm lashed out and a shower of supersonic metal balls sprayed across the two Inheritors, skinless and whiteys.
She landed in their midst. She didn’t want to give Tylox time to deploy the insects from the numerous growths on his body. She clubbed the Inheritor with her solid-metal kanabo, pulping his head like a watermelon.
“You,” Gyxdor rumbled.
“Me,” Tessa smirked. “So, I’ve killed that one three times now. I was wondering, were they all different? Clones, but with different memories? Or the same?”
“You’re unworthy to know the truth of our mysteries,” Gyxdor said.
The towering Inheritor aimed a clubbing punch with a fist bigger than Tessa’s torso.
She dived out of the way, crushing several skinless with her superhuman strength and Threnosh power armor.
Gyxdor’s punch drove a sizable crater into the metallic street surface.
She shot more metal balls into Gyxdor’s broad, ugly face.
The supersonic projectiles raised tiny red welts on the Inheritor’s thick, gray skin. Sparks flew where the metal balls bounced off the bony growths on his brow and forehead.
Tessa whirled the kanabo over her head.
Skinless Threnosh flew in every direction.
Gyxdor barreled over his own allies in his haste to reach her.
Massive fists swung at impossible speeds, but she was able to keep her distance by jumping over and around the mass of skinless crowding the street.
Tessa gathered her power underneath her feet and released it, launching herself into the air. She swept her kanabo up and cracked Gyxdor underneath his chin.
Blood, bits of teeth and bone went flying.
Tessa soared high into the air and scattered metal balls across the street below her. “I’m killing sooo many of you guys!” she crowed down. “What’re you going to do to stop me?”
Her answer was a roar and a handful of skinless that clipped her and sent her pinwheeling through the air.
Gyxdor had thrown them at her.
Tessa hit the street several hundred yards away in area free from enemies. She was hurt and bruised, but bounced to her feet quickly.
A huge shadow loomed overhead.
She magnetically shot her kanabo at the descending Gyxdor.
Two booms in quick succession followed.
The sound barrier being broken, then the impact on Gyxdor’s broad, muscled chest.
The Inheritor went flying to the side.
Tessa tracked her kanabo in the opposite direction and rushed to snatch it out of the air.
“Tessa, what’re you doing?” Her dad’s voice sounded frantic.
“Winning,” Tessa said. Duh.
She leapt into the air after Gyxdor.
The huge Inheritor had crashed into the side of a structure, caving the thin, metallic walls in around his body.
Tessa pushed him in further with a stream of small projectiles.
Gyxdor covered his face with one enormous arm. “Like raindrops,” he sneered as he ripped a jagged chunk of metal from the wall and sent it spinning toward Tessa.
She batted it out of the way mid-flight with her kanabo. “Same to you.”
Gyxdor roared and launched himself at her.
Tessa boomed her kanabo off his ugly face.
She landed lightly and caught her weapon in one hand. “Running out of teeth?”
Gyxdor spat blood. “They will grow back. Can you say the same about your parts?”
“Not my thing, but it won’t matter. You’re much too slow to lay a hand on me.”
Gyxdor ripped a piece of metal from the street and winged it at her.
She swayed to one side to let it pass harmlessly next to her.
“You’ve got terrible aim. Like, the worst I’ve ever seen. That noodly-appendaged friend of yours is much better.”
“Your tone reminds me of another of your species I have faced. An older male version. Not the one that always buries me with broken structures while keeping his distance in fear. One that I exchanged blows with in the crucible. Blow for blow. Strength for strength. I battered his face and body as he did mine. A prime representative of your kind. Would that the rest of you were as worthy, I might gain more from this battle like I did from the one called Honor,” Gyxdor said.
“You have no idea how icky you sound right now, do you?” Tessa made a face. “I can’t wait to tell my uncle about this, but first I’m going to take you out. That’ll put me up on both him and my dad.”
“Too much talking,” Gyxdor rumbled. “You’ve ensnared me in your unconventional tactics. Hylhon was right. We do need to develop countermeasures to your Earthian thought patterns.”
“Huh? Note to self, Inheritors learning too much about us. Tell Dad later.”
“Calling for help? It won’t avail you. I will have crushed you long before they can arrive.”
Tessa twirled her kanabo and pointed a finger at the massive mountain of muscle. “You shall not pass!”
“I— have you not been listening? I will not bypass you. I will crush you. Then I will take your broken body and we will unlock your genetic secrets to incorporate them into our future Inheritors.”
“Gross.”
Tessa opened her clenched fingers.
A dozen spiked metal balls boomed across the street.
Gyxdor raised a massive arm across his face. “Tylox’s insects have more sting.”
“Not anymore,” Tessa glanced at her kanabo, “I’ve got bits of his brain all over this. Already added some of your teeth. Was going to add some of your brain, but then I realized that it’s so small that I’ll just end up pulverizing it.”
Gyxdor roared and leapt.
Tessa pushed down with her power. The metallic street was the perfect base to propel her power armor-covered body. She rose above Gyxdor and slammed her kanabo across his back.
The Inheritor flailed as he failed to grab her.
Tessa filled Gyxdor’s back with metal spikes before they both hit the ground.
The Inheritor was much stronger than her and exponentially tougher even accounting for the Threnosh armor she wore. He was on his feet with a quickness that belied the massive bulk he carried.
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He lashed out with massive punches that Tessa knew would probably knock her out if not break bones despite the armor’s protective systems.
She kept just out of reach, leaping and dashing across the street while hitting Gyxdor with her kanabo and spraying metal bits into his face.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t dodge perfectly forever.
A glancing blow sent her flying down the street and into a cluster of dried out husks, cocoons of the original Threnosh inhabitants of Orchestral Meridian turned into skinless ones by Mother Madrigal.
Gyxdor was on her before she could get up.
She jabbed at his eyes, but the Inheritor slapped her weapon aside and grabbed her around her torso.
“Now, I will crush you.” A sadistic grin spread across Gyxdor’s face.
The pressure through the armor was immense. Red lights flashed with the warning alerts in her faceplate.
“You… worse… without… teeth,” she managed.
The bloody, gaping spaces in Gyxdor’s mouth were rather grotesque.
She stabbed her kanabo through one of the gaps and into the roof of his mouth. A cybernetic thought activated the electrical discharge function of her armor. The massive burst of electricity traveled down her solid metal kanabo and into the Inheritor’s soft insides.
Judging by Gyxdor’s yelp, even he had felt that. Granted the burst was probably enough to down a whole herd of elephants.
The massive fingers around Tessa’s body loosened and she surged free.
She pulled a spike the length of her arm from a compartment at her thigh and magnetically accelerated it into Gyxdor’s bare stomach. At such close range she actually managed to drive it a few inches through his ultra-dense skin.
Gyxdor struggled to fight the convulsions seizing his body.
Tessa cracked him across the jaw. “C’mon!” she pushed her free hand to the spike in the Inheritor’s stomach and forced her power into it, moving it a few more inches in.
“Weak. Too weak,” Gyxdor graveled. He regained control and swiped a tree trunk-sized arm at Tessa.
She ducked it and hit the side of his knee.
The impact reverberated up the kanabo and into her arms.
Gyxdor didn’t react. He reached out with grasping fingers.
She spread a cloud of supersonic metal bits into his face, but the big bastard reacted quickly enough to close his eyes.
Still, it gave her a few seconds and she took the opportunity.
Tessa turned and sprinted down the street. She hit 40 mph within a handful of strides.
A dark shadow fell over her, eclipsing the light of the sun.
She zigged to the right just as Gyxdor cratered the metallic surface.
She zagged to the left, ducking under a flashing fist and striking back, nailing Gyxdor across the neck with her kanabo.
Another moment bought.
She resumed her sprint.
Gyxdor roared and gave chase.
She ducked into a tight alley.
Gyxdor forced his way after her, deforming the metallic walls like thin foil.
“Uh… so… you still there, Dad?” Tessa said into the comms in her helmet.
“Are you okay? What’s happening? I can barely understand you,” he replied.
“I’m… running…”
“It sound’s like you’re running.”
“Yeah, being chased,” she huffed.
Gyxdor’s thudding steps sounded really close and she didn’t want to risk looking back. She glanced at the ground to keep a watch for the telltale shadow.
“I warned you— just keep running. I’m forwarding a map to you. There’s a vehicle access shaft about a mile from your position. I’m sending air support to get you out of there.”
“Got it.” Directional arrows appeared on the map overlay in her faceplate. “Shit!” A large structure loomed ahead. Over 200 meters tall and many times wider.
She ran for it with what felt like Gyxdor’s hot breath on her back.
Once she got close she blasted off the ground with a magnetic burst that propelled her a quarter of the way up the side of the building.
She planted her boots on the side of the structure and started running.
A glance back showed Gyxdor climbing after her by digging his fingers and toes into the metal.
“Jesus… overconfidence is going to get me killed,” she muttered.
It took a lot of concentration turning her power on and off with each stride up the side of the building. It slowed her down, which allowed the giant Inheritor to close the distance.
She reached for projectiles to use, but the various compartments at her waist and thighs were empty.
“Of course…”
The edge of the roof loomed ahead and Tessa threw herself toward it with a burst of magnetic power.
The displaced air made by Gyxdor’s grasping hand almost spun her around, but she managed to reach the edge with her free hand and boost herself a dozen meters up.
She hit the rooftop running.
Gyxdor right behind her.
They covered the distance to the access shaft in minutes.
The dark opening was enormous, yawning like a portal to some dark underworld. Quite literal in this case as the sub-levels of the city were indeed without the same amount of lighting it had before the spires had appeared and allowed Mother Madrigal to come through.
“Where’s my transport? I’m almost there and I don’t see or hear anything!”
“Jump as far as you can into the access shaft.”
“… okay…”
Tessa did as instructed.
As soon as she reached the edge of the huge hole she performed a magnetically-boosted leap that sent her arcing through the bright sky.
Gyxdor followed, but didn’t quite have as much power in his legs.
Gravity asserted itself over the two of them and Tessa got to watch Gyxdor fall below her.
A quick glance to the readout said that the shaft descended 1300 meters to its bottom floor.
“It’s a long drop!” Tessa called out.
She spread her arms and legs, turning her body so she fell with her stomach facing down. She needed to create as much surface area as possible to aid her air resistance.
Gyxdor bellowed something inarticulate at her.
She smirked and waved in response.
Long seconds passed.
“Any second now, Dad,” she muttered.
The Inheritor was glaring at her with impotent rage. “You will fall into my arms. I can survive this with ease. Can you?”
A beep sounded in her ears.
“Ah… finally.”
One of the vanguards dived toward her at tremendous speed.
The unfortunately named Tremulous Jester 135 detached a small container from their chest before reversing their thrust and zooming back up the shaft.
The container opened. Mechanical arms reached out and affixed themselves to Tessa’s armor along the back and the front. The anti-gravity harness whined to life and her descent slowed, then stopped.
She floated in the air for long enough to wave goodbye to the rapidly shrinking Gyxdor below her.
His rage-filled bellow was music to her ears.
Almost enough to drown out the song, if only for a fleeting moment.
When the Inheritor was swallowed by the darkness, Tessa engaged the thruster pack and soared out of the shaft and into the sun. Her flight time was limited, but it’d be enough to get her away from Gyxdor.
She debated getting back into one of the multiple ongoing battles in the sector, but she was out of projectiles and her dad was yelling in her ear. She had probably pushed things too far this time.
“Fine, I’ll head back to the nearest forward base… yes… then I’ll go back to the main base… yes… I won’t stay to fight… yes… I’ll do it right away. Jeez, Dad… I’m not a kid…”
The transport back to their main base on the ruins of the bridge outside of the city was packed with injured Threnosh, standard soldiers and a few uniques.
One of which was strapped-in next to Tessa.
“I boomed him like a dozen times and knocked out a bunch of teeth and bits of face bones, but nothing stopped the huge bastard. Sure, I don’t have as much superstrength as my dad or uncles, but what I do have was also boosted by the power armor. I thought for sure I could’ve done more damage.”
“Yes. That one is difficult to damage. The best I’ve ever managed was to cut through the flesh of his thigh and singe bone. He always moves out of the way of my lasers. My highest energy output is too slow to track him. It is odd that one so big and strong can move so quickly,” Kynnro said.
“I know, right? Doesn’t seem fair, but it’s, like, scientific. Strong muscles means quick movement. He might have ridiculous mass, but the strength is more than super enough to propel that mass at what, to us, might be counter-intuitive speed,” Tessa said.
The transport shook violently for a few seconds.
“Pilot, report,” Kynnro said into their helmet comms.
Tessa patched in to the channel.
“Aerial enemies inbound. Vanguards engaging,” the pilot replied.
“I’d better—” Tessa reached for her straps.
“Belay that, Tessa. Remy’s orders,” Kynnro said.
“Of course, he did…” she muttered. “I’ll just shoot some metal at them from the ramp. We’re not that high up. Just open it.”
“Negative,” Kynnro said.
Tessa cursed as she was jerked around in her seat.
“You sure, Kynnro? I’ll probably be fine if we crash,” she eyed the healing pods filled with Threnosh sharing the passenger compartment with her, “the rest of you won’t.”
“The vanguards will protect us,” Kynnro said.
The next several minutes were tense as the transport continued to shake with intermittent violence. Tessa managed to stay her hands as they hovered near the release for the straps keeping her in the seat.
The song in her head rose to a fevered pitch. She couldn’t separate it from the blood pounding in her ears as her heart raced from practically nothing to over a hundred beats per minute.
“Definitely the song and not the things outside… they’re little better than mosquitoes. I’ll be fine, but the Threnosh won’t be,” she whispered.
“What did you say, Tessa?”
“Nothing, Kynnro.”
“Patience.”
Tessa listened to the Threnosh.
The shaking stopped. The flight resumed its customary smoothness. The song remained loud.
“Tessa, you look… angry?”
“Stupid song in my head,” Tessa said.
The Threnosh quirked their head to one side. “What?”
Tessa used the rest of the flight to the main base to fill Kynnro in on her problem nightmares.
The song grew louder as Tessa went through the process of returning her gear to the armory chamber. Followed by a full medical scan. Dozens of bruises and micro fractures were spread through her body, but that was a cheap bill for a fight with Gyxdor. The medical staff wanted her to spend a half hour in a healing pod, but she waved their concern away and rushed out before they could complain to her dad.
An open field stood in front of Tessa. Soft, lush grass undulated in the gentle breeze that brushed tender fingers through her hair.
She didn’t know where she was. It reminded her of home, but also could’ve been on the Threnosh world. She was definitely not on her way to the cafeteria.
“Not in the mood for this. Never will be in the mood for this. You’ll find that messing with me will fill whatever you are with regret!”
A bright light flared over the horizon.
Tessa shielded her eyes. Afterimages of golden wings and a wide smile filled with golden teeth filled them.
She raised a hand toward it, then realized that she lacked metal. Instead, she plugged her ears and started singing a song. A fun, fast thing, not the evil one blaring in her head.
“Can you prevent it?”
The question sang in her thoughts.
“You have power. Is it enough to save them?”
Violin strings.
“Can you reach the source?”
Piano keys.
“End it before it is too late.”
“Wait? What?”
Rows of brilliant white teeth, sharp like a shark, gleamed in her mind’s eye.
“You know the truth. Where you need to go. What you need to do.”
“Yeah… no. I don’t. How bout you just tell me, asshole angel guy?”
“Insolence and disrespect. We seek to open your eyes to the light, so that you may live in joy.”
“Says the guy dripping with sinister intent. I’ve got more senses than the normal person and they’re telling me there’s something way off about you, so, fuck off and leave my friends alone or I will send a shard of metal flying through your face.”
“Unnumbered souls have joined their songs to our dominion. They walk with ever-lasting joy in the light. Join or fall in the darkness.”
“Not interested in anything other than kicking your ass for the months you’ve been fucking with us. So… go away,” Tessa shooed the blazing bright light with a hand.
The song in her head twinged. Discord and harmony warred.
She grit her teeth against the sudden pain and pressure.
Tessa blinked.
Her face felt wet and warm.
The Threnosh in the cafeteria stared at her.
“Is that a new method of food consumption?” Salamander said from several tables away.
Tessa stared down at the mostly empty bowl of soup.
“Oh… that fucking bastard!”
“It appears to be wasteful. Most of the sustenance is on your face and on the table. You’ve only managed to properly consume less than 15% of the soup,” Salamander continued.
Tessa wiped her face before heading back to the food dispenser. “No big deal,” she said as she passed the Threnosh in draconic power armor, “just had a daymare. No need to get up. Keep drinking that nutrient drink.”
A slight crease marred Salamander’s forehead. “I had no intention of doing otherwise. Was I supposed to do something else?”
The song was in Tessa’s head, but it wasn’t as loud as it had been.
“I don’t know. I thought you would’ve had the answer to that. Answers…” she mused. “We have to get them on our own. Even if someone gives them to us. I mean, can you really trust the shining light to tell you the truth when it’s so blatantly trying to manipulate you?”
“Logic states that the answer to that is a negative,” Salamander said.
“Precisely, but maybe you lead them on to think that you’re listening. That way you can surprise them with a stick to the face,” Tessa said.
“Acknowledged?”
“Yup,” Tessa nodded amiably. “I’m not going to be fooled by a fake angel. I’m going to be the one doing the fooling. I’d bet the others will feel the same way.”
Tessa filled her stomach with many pounds of food. Calories to replace those she had expended against Gyxdor. She went to her quarters and opened up a channel to her friends and her sister.
She had a lot to discuss.