We moved slowly, the sounds of Strauss and his team settling themselves up on the Ogre’s and trundling into the large parking lot meeting our ears. There were enough vehicles here that it wouldn’t be particularly easy for them to get to us, but the higher vantage point was helpful.

I stepped out of the building first, and at the same moment, I heard Strauss shout, “Up!”

Gritting my teeth, I cranked my senses to the maximum, seeing a mass of wall-textured limb reach down with sixteen centimeter long claws swiping at me. I twisted out of the way, reaching up with my arm and snagging it as it began to recoil.

It pulled, snarling, the visage it adopted falling away all at once. If I hadn’t been looking right at it, I wouldn’t have picked it up. The texture of its fur rippled, color shifting, and it’s long-toothed maw snarled in a cracked, broken way that only biotics could manage.

My skin crawled, but I held fast, even as it lifted me off the ground. Clearly, I was heavier than it expected, because it wasn’t able to get me far. It hefted me a foot up, only to lose its footing and slip downwards. I snarled, pulling hard at the same time and twisting.

I slammed it onto its back, releasing its arm. Holding onto it would be unwise, considering it could wrap around me with its raking claws and teeth. I didn’t want to test how much this thing could penetrate armor just now.

The gun cradled in my other arm was up and pointed at it before it fully even landed, red gleaming light streaking across its chromed surface. It was an homage to my earlier rifle, three barrels streaking with light and heat, the deep clip mounted beneath releasing the same, angry glow.

When I fired the weapon, it was like a storm of slag suddenly existed in the space that the biotic was in.

It cried out, loudly, as the bullets impacted it, and it scrambled away several meters before collapsing, smoke pouring from dozens of holes. This weapon was pushed to the limits that we had, rate of fire, destructive potential, and came with the added benefit that many of its capabilities could be modified on the fly.

Someone else would have to interact with a panel system, one that intrinsically wouldn’t be feasible in the middle of combat for anyone else.

For me, it was perfect.

I switched to a single shot setting, blasting through its back legs as it tried to rise. It was snarling for a few moments before simply laying still. For a few long seconds, nobody moved, just watching.

The one who broke the silence was Yomar, “did you just man-handle that cat?”

I rolled my eyes at that, and heard an audible ‘smack’ as someone hit him upside the head.

“Is it dead?” Alice warily eyed it, “that was fast.”

“Don’t underestimate them, I was fine because I’m crazy heavy, strong, and have lightning-reflexes.” I said this aloud, not trying to gloat but needing to highlight this. “It might still be alive, though.”

I guided a Determinator nearby, weapons at the ready, marching up to it. The Determinator was filled in on the intent of the maneuver, and was ready for the sacrifice it would make. Not that it would truly be dead, it would just return to my subconscious space.

Repairing the body would be more troublesome.

We watched as the Determinator stalked forward, coming within swiping distance of the biotic. Nothing happened, and it poked its head with the barrel of its heavy rifle unceremoniously.

“Huh, I guess it’s dea-” Richard started, only for the biotic to spring to life, snapping its jaws around the leg of the Determinator. It’s claws raked upwards a moment later, before the Determinator grabbed it around the head and twisted.

Hard.

I winced at the sound of bone shattering, and could feel almost a wave of irritation roll through the Determinator as it shoved the biotic off of its body.

The leg was damaged, but only superficially. The scratched had also only damaged the armor plating. Against mesh and exo-suits, these things would be dangerous, with a high potential for lethality. But power armor? Mechs? I don’t know if they’d be able to get through.

“Well, it’s not like the wolves, at least,” Alice sighed in relief, “maybe ours were just freaks?”

“Biting through tank armor was pretty intense, but I’m actually glad that’s all they did, along with numbers, after seeing this shit.” Jeremy shook his head, “that was crazy.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“How did you even see it?” I frowned, “I could barely make it out, and that’s something.”

“I don’t know for sure. I just… felt it?” He looked perplexed, “like there was something there. My gut’s been pretty spot on about that stuff.”

“He’s right,” Yomar confirmed, “he’s got like a sixth-sense for sneaky bastards.”

“Don’t call it that,” he groaned, “that just sounds so…”

“Cringey?” Alice supplied helpfully.

“Yeah,” he groused, “I guess?”

Alice looked like she was about to speak when she paused and faltered, turning her attention more acutely to the now rapidly decaying biotic.

“What is it?” I asked, seeing her thoughtful look.

“Not sure, yet.” She looked around, “epiphany in progress?”

Richard chuckled, “well, keep the epiphany going, but let's get in the Ogre’s again.”

“This was the biotic that was following us, right?” Alice said, stopping everyone again.

“What do you mean?” Sammy asked suddenly panning around with a four-barreled gun held up, putting caution before questions.

“This… might seem weird, but I kinda felt like there was something wrong when we walked in there the first time. Now it’s gone. And that one's dead. Sooo…?” She shuffled, “does that make sense?”

There was a moment of confusion that seemed to fill the air, one that only seemed to grow, “wait, like for real sixth-sense stuff?”

“God damnit, Yomar, I said not to call it that,” Jeremy spat, “makes me feel like one of those scammy fortune tellers we used to see.”

“Well, I mean, that’s because it doe-Shit!” We heard him suddenly shout, only to see a large, green-like-grass mass tackle him to the ground from behind and begin to drag him away, albeit slower than we’d expected.

I watched him hook his clawed fingers into the ground, almost immediately arresting his movement. “Fuck off!”

A sudden sound like steel sliding past steel emerged in the air, and I saw a few long blades stab upwards from his back, goring the cat as it released him. It moved to flee, but before it got far, Denice let a cluster of grenades fly from her launcher. The explosions rocked the area, and we watched as the biotic, now heavily injured, continued to flee from the area.

“Alright, what the fuck?” Denice spat, “that was three ‘nades, how the fuck is it getting away with that?”

“Yomar, you alright?” We all made double time closer together, Jeremy landing from the top of the Ogre next to him.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, fucking cat.” He spat, “glad I added those. RR&D can suck it, I told them it would come in handy one day.”

“Didn’t expect it so soon, I imagine,” Richard murmured, keeping a careful eye on the surroundings, “at risk of sounding rude, did you feel anything when that thing was here?”

“Little bit?” Alice shrugged, “I dunno, was kinda far away.”

“I did a bit,” Jeremy frowned, “I think? Like… a bubble?”

“Yeah, like there’s a bubble pulling at your attention, right?” Alice clapped her hands.

Jeremy nodded, and I stiffened, turning my attention to both of them, and the others. We took a moment to consider what they were saying.

“Wait, like, real sixth-sen-” Yomar started before Denice cut him off.

“I will make sure you’re in grenade range next time.” A few chuckles at that, undercut by the possibilities here.

“Yaga was psychic,” I murmured, catching everyone’s attention, “Wolven was psychic, too.”

Alice shivered at that, “What? That thing was psychic?”

With a grimace, I nodded, “I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that you two were a bit more sensitive. Did you two speak with Yaga a lot while I was out?”

“Who’s Yaga, and why don’t I know about some psychic guy we have?” Yomar started, then looked around, “wait, am I the only one who didn’t know about that, here?”

“Same boat,” Denice frowned, and the look was mirrored across the rest of Strauss’ team, save for Strauss himself.

“Yaga is the psuedo-biotic that Louis’ team was kinda kidnapped by,” I then paused, “he’s actually not a bad guy, though. He’s very helpful. Jeremy can fill you in on the details, we’re considering him classified, but we might not need too now that we have New Damond.”

“Uh… oookay then,” Denice shook her head, “so, psychic powers exist?”

“Not the crazy stuff like telekinesis,” I answered, then had to consider it for a few moments. “Or, we haven’t seen it yet. But I’m leaning to ‘yes’ at the very least mental awareness is a thing. Might be like a muscle getting flexed.”

“Allendra, ask Jeremy to flex your muscles,” Jackson winked at her, immediately receiving a sharp jab from Adam.

“As enlightening as this all is,” the medic began, “is it reliable?”

Alice and Jeremy looked at each other, equally as perplexed. “Maybe? No clue.”

“So, business as usual, then.” He sighed, “I guess sometimes not getting ambushed by man-eating biotics in the shape of a cat is better than always getting ambushed by man-eating biotics in the shape of a cat.”

“True that,” Yomar nodded sagely.

“Remember to keep an eye out for any signs of a Gen 2 biotic,” I said, “let’s pile in. We’re not far from Sunvilla, and if these things are common, I doubt people are in a calm and relaxed state.”

“The bullets holes in the walls might indicate that too,” Sammy murmured as Richard chuckled.

I shook my head as we filed into the Ogre’s, allowing the Determinators to repair their fellow machine in the bay.

“Give a shout if you feel anything,” Yomar called out over the comms.

Jeremy and Alice replied at once, “Shaddup.”

I snickered at that, refocusing on Shade as it began more sweeps, trying to catch any biotics unawares in order to get a read on how many we could expect. If it was this much of a mess outside of town, though, I had to wonder what it would be like deeper within.