Thanks to the camera on Marcus’ suit, I could see what he saw—gray mountains covered in dust surrounded where they stood, all free of greenery and life.
The stars above hung in a black sky without clouds or a hint of water.
They were on top of a mountain. The surface slanted without turning into a sheer drop. It wasn’t a cliff there, but if he ran in any direction there would be a drop into the darkness below soon enough.
The most shocking event came next. Victor didn’t attack. He stared down at Marcus, “You’re an Abominator.”
Marcus shook his head, “I’m not! Look I know they were shapeshifters, but they didn’t hesitate to reverse-engineer their genetic code to solve problems in their servants. You inserted an implant full of Abominator history in your head along with your powers, right? Check it.”
Victor’s mouth set in a hard line, “Not an implant, exactly. The Abominators made a biological equivalent. Certain… imperatives come along with it. I wish you’d said you were an Abominator because then I couldn’t fight you. That supersedes everything unless there’s an Abominator of a certain lineage to give me orders, but never mind that. You’re not an Abominator, so I have other orders to follow.”
Victor’s eyes glowed purple and beams erupted from them.
Marcus hadn’t stayed still. The moment Victor’s eyes began to increase their glow, he dove for the ground behind Victor on his left.
I couldn’t see him do it, only see the ground coming closer, followed by a moment of Marcus’ chest, and then Marcus stood behind Victor, extending his arms toward Victor’s shoulders.
Victor wasn’t just standing there, though. He turned, eyes still glowing, ready to burn Marcus down. Marcus hadn’t been standing still though. He’d gone straight for Victor’s back, coating it in a layer of himself. Victor was more than eight feet tall so there was plenty of back to work with.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see much of anything.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Marcus hadn’t been worrying about the camera nearly as much as he’d been worried about survival. He’d left the camera pointed upward, giving us a view of the sky, its sea of darkness and unblinking stars. Thanks to the wide-angle lens, we also got a little of Victor’s back, neck, and head.
It wasn’t a bad idea. Marcus couldn’t beat Victor in a straight fight. He’d have a hard time bringing his full strength to bear.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect. If Victor could think of something that would kill Marcus but not himself, he could teleport the two of them straight into it.
Victor could also reach toward his back, much as he might if he were trying to scratch it. He might even be able to grab pieces of Marcus and rip them away from the rest of Marcus’ body if he moved too quickly for Marcus to react—except he didn’t.
Every time he reached a spot where Marcus was, Marcus thinned out and Victor’s fingers went through him like water, his body slipping out of Victor’s grasp.
Victor snarled and reached out again, this time with both arms, and struck at his own back, hitting his skin while Marcus absorbed himself on either side of the spots Victor hit.
Victor kept that up for a series of ever more frantic strikes. Twisting his body around threw moon dust into what passed for the Moon’s (thin) atmosphere. The dust flew further and hung above the ground longer than I’d have expected.
Victor’s modifications from the Abominator birthing chambers didn’t include being able to turn his head 180 degrees, but he tried, firing off beams from his eyes that didn’t do anything.
They did pass over the camera and presumably into Marcus’ field of vision, prompting him to use his implant, asking, “Are you guys on your way? Because he’s going to think of something eventually. I’ve got no idea how to take him down.”
“Of course we’re coming,” Jaclyn said, “we’ll be there soon.”
She wasn’t lying. We’d started moving toward him as we watched the fight even though it hadn’t been easy. Every step Jaclyn made threatened to launch her upward. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t reach escape velocity, but it wasn’t an experiment I wanted to try, and neither did she.
After a few unnerving steps that turned to leaps, I told her, “Maybe use the anti-gravity pack to push you down again?”
“Is there a way to just have it push me down with Earth's gravity all the time?” Jaclyn asked, her camera showing dust flying as she landed on the moon again.
“Duh,” I said, “I should have thought of that. It’s not designed to keep you on the ground, so it might act a little weird, but yes. I’ll remote in and change some settings.”
I did and she began to run toward Marcus with all the speed she’d have had on Earth.
Then I changed the settings on my own and shot into the air, flying over a massive crater toward the distant mountains where Marcus fought, hoping I’d get there in time to make a difference.