Original Science Fiction

Short Stories

 

Author’s note: This story takes place after the events of the Shattered Stars Duology. If you haven’t read or finished the Shattered Stars Duology, I do not recommend reading this short story, as it might not make sense and it might contain spoilers.

The White Angel

“How did that miss!?” I yelled as I leaned forward in concentration. My hands tightened around the Gamecube controller.

“‘Cause you suck,” Neila replied next to me, her controller clicking furiously as her character danced around mine on the screen.

I narrowed my eyes as I struggled to find an opening, some way to get her to lower her guard for just an instant. Nothing worked. It was as if I had just picked up this game last week, and she had played it for the past decade. I changed up my movement, opting to stay grounded and approach by shielding or rolling. That was my greatest mistake.

Neila predicted my roll. A grab, three pummels, and an up-throw and down-B later the announcer called “GAME!”. Three-stocked. Again.

I stared at my controller as the victory screen played, “Pikachu wins!”

I shook my head and chuckled. “Holy shit, man. This just isn’t fair.”

Neila perked up an ear in my direction as she gave me her usual smug look. “What are your Johns gonna be this time, hm?”

I had no excuses this time. My implant was even speeding up my perceptions and reaction time, and I still couldn’t take a single game from her after she had played for only an hour. And that was last week. She had been going crazy with the smack talk ever since. Oh, the benefits of being over three times smarter than the average human.

I brought up the lie detector in my interface and shot her an accusing glance. “Did you hack the frame data again?

Neila giggled, baring her fangs slightly. Her fluffy tail swept back and forth playfully on the couch. “Ha! I’ve never done such a thing and you know it!”

<- LD: Truthful ->

I lowered my head in defeat. Neila tilted her head. “Ready for online?”

I pursed my lips and brought my gaze up to the screen again. “One more.”

Neila moved the selector on the stage select screen as she made up her mind.

<- Alert: BREAKING NEWS: Unknown monster terrorizes the city of Sacramento ->

“Pppt,” I spat, grinning at Neila. “Did you just get what I got? That has to be a joke.”

She snorted through her nose in amusement. “Yeah, I…” Her mouth hung slack and her controller dropped onto her lap. “No way.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What, it’s real?”

She blinked twice and the living room screen switched from the game we were playing to a devastating scene. Buildings were half blown apart and shrouded in smoke. Cars were scattered on the freeway, and their drivers had gotten out and were running for their lives.

The aerial view focused in on the center of the chaos. A dark figure stood in the middle of the highway. It stood fifteen feet tall and had a whip-like tail. Its skin was black like tarmac, and yellow cracks formed and disappeared on its body as it moved, as though lava smoldered under the surface. Its eyes were unblinking circles of yellow light on a human head.

Neila got up from the couch and took a few steps toward the screen, clutching her ears in her fists. “This can’t be real.”

Bullets glanced off the creature from somewhere off the highway. Without even looking, it raised an arm in that direction. The forearm and hand transformed into a sharp cone. A white beam of light shot from the tip, and the gunfire ceased. It lumbered down the road as if on a casual stroll.

I got up and stood next to Neila, transfixed by the scene in front of us. Her breathing was more noticeable now, and it was turning into panting. “That looks like it’s of Asturnian make. This can’t be… How did this happen?”

I looked at her with concern, though my own pounding heart made it difficult to think of the right thing to say. “A—Are you alright?”

She made momentary eye contact with me, her lightning blue eyes shining a bit more than usual. Then she blinked and let go of her head hesitantly. “Oh… right.”

She bowed her head and rested her hands on her chest, taking long and deep breaths. More sounds of explosions came from the TV, but I resisted the urge to look.

After a few moments, Neila started to relax. “Sorry, it’s still there after all this time from… the fight when I went crazy.”

“Yeah,” I said, noting how the monster resembled a Shifter. Dark memories of that gruesome battle flashed behind my eyes. A part of me hoped this was one of Neila’s practical jokes, but the other part of me knew better. She wasn’t that cruel. I locked my hands behind my head in trepidation. “At least we have the Air Force to take care of it for us.”

Neila shook her head and looked at me with concern. “No, they’re not strong enough.”

I gave her a confused look. “What are you talking about? We have thousands of fighters, and there’s only one monster.”

She folded her arms, flicking her tail in annoyance. “Numbers won’t matter in this fight. Not with the current technological difference. We’ve still kept most of our tech secret from your world’s militaries, remember?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m the one trying to stay positive about it. It’s not like there’s anything we can do about it.”

“Well…” Neila said as she stared at the screen, determined. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

“What do you…” I paused with my mouth half open as it occurred to me. “No.”

She gave me a sideways look, astonished. “Yes!”

I smirked down at her. “We’re not superheroes, Neila. Let the science fiction writers take care of that.”

“This isn’t about that.” She gestured furiously at the screen. “As far as I know, we’re the only ones who will be able to stop that thing. I mean, look!”

Just at that moment, we got a view of fighter jets closing in on the monster. They unleashed a flurry of missiles, each one taking a different arced path toward its target. The monster raised both of its arms. The plasma beams cut through the missiles with inhuman accuracy, and they were gone in a matter of seconds. The jets tried to curve away, but they didn’t last much longer than the missiles. The explosions flashed offscreen.

My hands dropped to my sides. My chest tightened as a familiar dread crept up on me. Another fight was the last thing I wanted.

The monster’s arms formed hands again, and it dug into the pavement like it was only sand. A yellow glow rippled up its arms and into the rest of its body.

“It’s replenishing its energy,” Neila warned.

It stood up and walked a few more steps between the newly created craters, then its head turned toward the camera. The helicopter providing the view must have been a mile away, but the monster still raised its arm which had formed back into a cone. The last thing we saw was a white flash erupting from the tip, and the news channel lost connection with the camera.

“Uh, I mean…” I closed my eyes and lowered my head, resting my forehead on my hand. “This is horrible.”

“Hm,” Neila muttered next to me. “I’ll see you in the Neilair.”

Her padded footsteps faded around the corner, and I couldn’t stop the tiny smirk from forming on the corner of my mouth. Without using the implant, I thought I detected the tiniest bit of excitement in her voice. It must have been my imagination.

The broadcast now showed a pair of concerned reporters having a live conversation over what the Air Force should do next. I sighed, frowning. “Fuck me.”

I followed Neila around the corner to the not-so-secret entrance to the elevator that lead to the Neilair. She stood near the entrance with her hands on her hips and leaning heavily on one leg, giving me an exaggerated impatient look. “You ready?”

I rolled my eyes and avoided her gaze, stepping into the elevator. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

The Neilair was located over a mile underground, the reason being that anything Neila did or built would be next to undetectable by the outside world.

When we were about halfway through our descent, I gave Neila a curious look. “You wanted something like this to happen, didn’t you?”

She furrowed her eyebrows at me and lowered her ears, offended. “No, of course not!”

<- LD: Untruthful ->

I blinked, unaware I still had the lie detector active. Then I burst out laughing. “You little bitch! You just want to put me through that goddamn machine. I fucking knew it. This is all just a trick, isn’t it?”

She faced me and crossed her arms, glaring up at me. “Keep that lie detector on.”

I nodded, grinning. “Oh, it’s staying on.”

She leaned in, not breaking eye contact. “This isn’t a joke. There are real lives at stake. Possibly millions.”

<- LD: Truthful ->

My grin faded as I reread the message multiple times. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yes!” She balled her hands by her sides.

“Alright, alright,” I said, putting my hands up in defeat. “Chill. I just didn’t think it made sense that something bad would happen and you would want it to happen.”

She turned toward the elevator door in contemplation. “I don’t like what’s happening.” A smirk pulled at the side of her mouth. “But this is a silver lining.”

I gripped the railing as the elevator began to slow. “No, it’s not.”

“What, you’re still scared of the Suiter-Upper?”

“That is the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.”

Neila snorted as the elevator door opened to near-blackness. “Well, as long as you don’t shit your pants like you did last time, I don’t care.”

She took a step onto the metal and the ceiling lights turned on.

The Neilair was Neila’s version of the man cave. Every time I came down here, she had implemented some new feature or functionality that would make the world’s leading government agencies jealous.

To the right was a theater-sized screen which she used to play her virtual reality games. The other side contained an array of tables used for different purposes. Some of them held prototypes for hoverboards that were based on ones from videogames or movies, and she was dangerously close to making them functional.

A few tables had robot arms that simply looked at us as we made our way to the back of the Neilair. I also spotted a random Deadmau5 head lying against the wall. Next to a pile of Pokeballs and a model of a logo that read “Deadgr3ph3n”. Somehow, she was able to engage in fifteen different hobbies at once. I could only have one or two at a time. Any more than that and I’d have a panic attack from trying to juggle them all.

The trip to the back was far too short. Neila stopped in the middle of nowhere and whirled around, grinning. “I made some upgrades since last time.”

I folded my arms. “What, am I standing on it and it’s going to trap me inside?”

“Actually, no,” she said, tilting her head, “but that is a good idea for next time.”

I looked past her searching for any sign of what was there last time. It had been an enormous machine that stretched from wall to wall with a giant ring in the middle. She had presented it to me for my twenty-first birthday. Back then, I had hated beer and all other alcoholic beverages, but after seeing her turn the Suiter-Upper on, I would have rather drown in beer.

“Anyway, I present the Suiter-Upper Mark VII, now with acoustic buffers!” She spread her arms wide with palms up.

Twenty feet behind her, the floor and ceiling opened up and complicated tech started building itself out of the openings. They met at the halfway point and formed a thick ring with a diameter that stretched from the floor to the ceiling.

I stared at the contraption as the final pieces fit themselves into place, trying to look as unimpressed as I could. Secretly, I loved it when she did that kind of stuff.

Neila turned toward it and giggled. “Ain’t it beautiful?”

“Mhm,” I replied, trying to keep my breathing slow. The butterflies in my stomach remained. I knew what was coming next.

She started stretching her arms and legs. “Let’s spin her up!”

The inner section of the ring began to spin clockwise. Within seconds it had turned into a blur and was emitting a faint blue glow. It wasn’t quite as intimidating as last time, mostly since the roar of the machine had turned into a dull humming.

Neila turned halfway back to me. “Just watch, alright?”

I nodded, and she nodded back. Then she proceeded to sprint on all fours and leap directly at the center of the ring. “Woohoo!”

When she was only a couple feet from the Suiter-Upper, the ring sped up a hundredfold. An intense white light lined the inner edge, and then it shot inward as Neila passed through it.

There was a momentary sizzling noise and blinding light exploded from the interaction. My arm jerked up to cover my eyes, but it was too late. I winced at the pain as a multicolored blotch covered the center of my vision. Massaging my eyes didn’t help either.

Neila’s voice was now an octave lower but still recognizable. “Okay, your turn!”

The whirring of the ring had dissipated, and I lowered my arm to see what happened. Except I couldn’t see. The blind spot blocked all but the edges of the ring. In my peripherals, I could see some draconic figure leaning casually against the supporting structure of the ring, but when I looked directly, the blind spot followed.

I blinked rapidly, still trying to find a way to get rid of the blind spot. “Neila, what did you do to me?”

“Nothing, I just told you to look. That’s all.”

“And now I’m blind!” I yelled.

“Correct! But you won’t be if you jump through the ring.”

I slumped my shoulders I realized her plan. The ring was still idling, waiting for me to approach.

I closed my eyes and braced myself. Okay, let’s just get this over with.

I lunged forward, but when I opened my eyes and saw the ring speeding up, I instinctively put on the brakes. Sweat started to break out all over my body. My heart pounded furiously in my chest. I took a few steps back. “I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“Oh, come on,” Neila whined. “I can’t take that monster alone, Connor. The longer this takes, the more people it’s going to kill.”

I looked at the spinning ring but still hesitated. Why can’t I do this?

“By Thannin’s Eye, fine,” Neila moaned. In my peripherals, she crouched and put her hands on her knees. She had the goofiest grin on her face. “Go on, boy, you can do it!”

I suppressed a scowl.

She continued. “Who’s a good little human? You are! Yes you are! You can do it, buddy. Yes you can!”

My mouth twitched in irritation. I saw what she was doing, and it was honestly genius. A portion of my fear had been replaced by anger. I realized that I no longer felt the compulsion to stay put, so I seized the opportunity. I sprinted forward, teeth gritted, my pulse pounding in my ears. My eyes squeezed shut as I leapt forward with my arms shielding my head.

The moment my feet left the ground, my entire body went numb. Sound was nonexistent. Then my vision went completely black, and the blind spot was gone.

After a few moments of nothing but terrified thoughts, sensation flooded my awareness. I was lying on the ground, intimately aware of my entire body and the fact that I had a few more limbs than before. My breath came back to me in one five-second inhale, and I exhaled as I turned onto my back. I still had a head-to-tail mane, apparently.

It felt incredibly weird to have wings and a tail again. I had assumed this form in my dreams several times since my great adventure a few years ago, but I never imagined it would be a reality once again.

Neila’s claws clicked on the metal as she walked up beside me. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I opened my eyes and was immediately reminded that I was going to have to get used to the big white muzzle at the lower corners of my vision. I craned my head up off the floor.

Neila had indeed assumed a Drake form as well, but with a twist. Instead of scales, her entire body was covered in a thin layer of golden-brown fur, the same color as her natural Grephen fur.

I raised an eyeridge. “No scales?”

She shrugged. “Eh, it’s special fur. It’s just as strong.”

She turned and strolled toward the back wall, and I noticed she had a head-to-tail mane as well. I took my time as I stood. My stance was a bit wobbly at first, as the structure of my legs forced me to stand on the balls of my feet. My tail was a perfect counterbalance, so I adjusted quickly.

As Neila searched through a pop-out drawer, I gazed back at the Suiter-Upper, which had since powered down, and realized something. I hadn’t been afraid of jumping through it at all. The real issue was that I had subconsciously written this draconic form off as some childish fantasy that was best unrealized. I had thought myself above such cravings, but now I saw the absurdity of denying the occasional self-indulgence.

I did in fact miss this form, and the awesome feeling of super-strength that accompanied it. I knew I’d want to change back as soon as this fight was over, but even if it only lasted for a short while, who wouldn’t want an experience like this?

“Thinkfast!” Neila shouted.

I snapped my head to her. She had tossed the hilt of a plasma sword in my direction and it was about to fly over my head. I reached up and grabbed it, and it continued on its trajectory, yanking me along for the ride.

I yelped as it dragged me across the floor. I stared at the hilt when I stopped. It lay on my fingers on the floor, and it wasn’t crushing them with weight, but I was unable to move it. I got into a crouch, tucked my other hand under the hilt, and lifted up with all my might. My muzzle contorted into a snarl. My feet screeched as they made deep gouges in the metal.

The hilt refused to move.

I gave up, slouching down and squinting at it. It looked like an ordinary Asturnian plasma blade. “What the hell is this thing made of!?”

“Oh, woops!” Neila said from behind me. “I forgot to do the thing.”

The hilt leapt off my fingers by itself and rammed into Neila’s outstretched hand. I stared at her in bewilderment.

Holding it delicately in both palms, she brought it up close to her muzzle and whispered to it. “Whosoever holds this sword, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Neila.”

Nothing changed visually about the hilt, but Neila presented it to me with pride. “I present to you, Styrka. Wield her with care.”

I just stood there, not knowing what to do.

“Reach out to it,” Neila said. “It’s yours.”

I extended my arm hesitantly and opened my hand toward Styrka. In the blink of an eye, it leapt off Neila’s hands and slapped into my palm. It was incredibly light. The blade extended on my command, and it stretched to over five feet in length. I put it through a couple of flourishes, astonished by its nimble movement.

I gazed at Neila. “How?”

She chuckled as she examined another, longer hilt from the drawer. “Gravity tech is a thing. I just took a few months to compactify it.”

“Heh,” I muttered as I shook my head. “You’ve watched too many Marvel movies.”

“There is no such thing,” she said as a much larger drawer popped out of the wall behind her. This one held a pair of Drake armor complete with supersonic jets. “As watching too many Marvel movies.”

I compactified Styrka back into a hilt as I got curious about the armor.

“Oh, wait,” Neila looked up from being in thought. “I knew something was missing.”

“Alexa,” she called, snapping her fingers, “play something badass.”

Music blared from the walls of the chamber.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, great.”

Neila stepped right behind one of the suits. It stood up from its crouched position and the back of the body and each of the limbs opened up. Then she let herself topple forward. Her body slid perfectly into the armor, and it folded around her gracefully like it was made of cloth.

She rolled forward on her shoulder and faced towards me, digging her hand in to the metal floor for effect. The armor continued its formation around her limbs. The tips of the two engines jutted out over her shoulders, and the armer reinforced the fingers on her wings, topping off the wrists with metal spikes. The armor enveloped her tail as well, ending it with a vicious-looking blade.

As her head armor made the final adjustments, two horns jutted out of the back of her skull, and two parallelograms lit up for the eyes. A circular light adorned the middle of the chest, and several cracks of light branched off it and raced along the limbs. The armor shifted from a solid black color to a navy blue.

Neila stood and put her fists on her hips, striking a pose. “How do I look?”

“Like Iron Man,” I replied, walking up to my set of armor. I chuckled again. “Way too many Marvel movies.”

My suiting up process was similar to Neila’s, minus the theatrics. It felt like putting on an extra set of clothes, and after a few moments it was hardly noticeable. I gave the armor a pure white color to contrast the monster we were about to face. If the media was going to get any footage of this fight, I wanted it to be clear who the good guys were.

“Quick rundown before we go,” Neila said. She showed the weapons on her own armor as she mentioned them. “One set of antimatter bullets per arm. Fifteen each, so use wisely. Plasma claws and tail blade. They use a shit-ton of energy, also use sparingly. You suit will drain energy from your body once it starts running out, so be sure to consume matter if you have the time. Styrka also works the same way, and don’t rely on its gravity ability too much, or it’ll become a useless piece of metal before long. Any questions?”

“What’s the plan?”

“We’ll discuss that in-flight. Speaking of…” She walked past me and stood facing the center of the back wall. “Alexa, open the Bifrost and set the exit velocity to Mach 1.”

I snorted in amusement.

The wall opened up in a circular pattern revealing an unimaginably long corridor. It sloped upward slightly, and there was a dot of light at the distant end. My interface told me it was over two miles away.

The cylindrical interior of the corridor began to rotate, and as it accelerated it took on a dreamy rainbow-colored pattern that swirled along with it.

Neila turned to me. “Don’t worry, those are just special effects. It’s basically a giant rail gun. Until you get out, keep your wings folded and you’ll be fine!”

I stared at the mouth of the Bifrost, mesmerized. As the rotational speed leveled out, my interface drew a myriad of lines indicating the powerful magnetic fields that sprung from the edge of the mouth.

Neila walked until she was a couple feet from the vortex, then she turned around and saluted me. “See ya in a few.”

She let herself fall backward. The magnetic fields increased a hundredfold, and she shot into the corridor. The fields decreased after a few seconds, which I took as my cue. Without wasting time, I bounded forward and jumped into the corridor.

An invisible force took hold of my entire body and thrust me toward the speck of light. Wind began to roar against my armor. Speed gauges popped up in my interface. The speck of light ahead grew steadily.

A smile grew on my muzzle. I really did miss this. I fired my jets at full thrust. My exit velocity was over Mach 2. “WOOHOO!”

My eyes adjusted instantly to the change in light, and I found myself racing over a majestic landscape of hills, trees, and farms on a warm summer midday.

I snapped my wings open and banked left slightly to follow Neila. She had cloaked herself, and all that was left was an outline provided my interface. I activated my camouflage, and my armor turned sky-blue.

As I slowly caught up to Neila, our speed leveled out at Mach 3. Miniature vapor cones formed around my shoulders and wing tips. Neila had her wings folded completely, so there was a much larger vapor cone around her torso.

“We have just over five minutes,” she said through our implants’ connection. “The monster is probably still on the highway. It didn’t seem eager to get anywhere.”

“Are we going to talk to it, or no?” I asked.

“We could try, but that’s probably not going to work. It’ll be like talking to a wild animal.”

“Right. So, are we both going to take it at once? Or do you think one of us is enough?”

“You’ll be just fine on your own. We’ve sparred a lot recently. If I can get into its system remotely while you distract it, then there will be no need to fight to the death. If not, then I can serve as your personal ass-guardian angel. You know, look out for fighter jets and stuff.”

“You mean Asgardian.”

“That’s what I said.”

“No, it’s definitely not.”

“Oh, also, I brought a Thunderbolt. Just in case.”

“Ugh, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“It might, and it’ll be glorious if it does.”

I rolled my eyes and brought my attention to the horizon. The buildings of Sacramento were starting to creep above it, and several stacks of smoke were already towering above them. As soon as the monster came into view, my interface shifted from blue to red and a wireframe of my body appeared in the corner. The monster was currently slicing a building in half with a plasma beam as if it were just an experiment.

Anticipation swept through my body as Neila and I began to slow down. I glanced every few seconds at Neila’s outline next to me. Her movements were stiffening up as well. I hoped she wouldn’t freeze up and have a panic attack. That had happened a few times since returning to Earth, and there were no threats those times.

We were less than a mile away now. The monster hadn’t noticed us yet. With each passing second, I could feel my mind trying to come up with reasons to not engage in the coming fight. I had to act now, or not at all.

“Well, here goes nothing,” I said, folding my wings and forcing myself into a steep nosedive. Thanks to my experience in my own dream server, skydiving was no longer panic inducing, but I never quite got used to it either.

“Good luck!” Neila called with a hint of concern.

“I think I’m gonna need it,” I replied, turning off my jets completely.

In the final seconds before I descended upon the monster, I dug deep into my anger that had been simmering for the past half hour. Suddenly, it was just me, the howling wind, and my target. No fooling around. No hesitation. No mercy.

Styrka magnetized to my hand and extended to full length, igniting around the edges in a brilliant blue light. At the last possible moment, I snapped my wings open and rose the blade above my head with both hands. “THAT’S ENOUGH!”

With inhuman speed, the monster whirled around and launched itself away, narrowly avoiding my strike. My legs were already outstretched for the landing, but it hardly made a difference. My legs thundered into the ground, sending a massive jolt throughout my body. Sparks flew everywhere as Styrka sank up to the hilt in the pavement.

The monster landed over a hundred feet away, then stood and simply stared at me. The legs of the wireframe blinked red. Pain had been disabled automatically through Combat Mode, but my legs definitely suffered from that landing. I was going to have to stall if I wanted my legs to heal in time.

My landing had kicked up a cloud of dust that was slowly drifting away with the prevailing wind. I yanked Styrka out of the ground and ambled forward as normally as I could, though my legs weren’t quite responding correctly yet. I uncamouflaged myself so I would be the monster’s primary focus.

I glared at the monster’s emotionless eyes. It was almost twice as tall as me, and probably much stronger if Neila was correct about it being of Asturnian make. But who would make such a thing at a time like this?

I raised Styrka and pointed it accusingly at my opponent. “Can you talk, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?”

It had no visible reaction to my threat. Though it didn’t have a mouth, a gender-neutral voice reverberated from its general direction. “I have been waiting for your arrival.”

My breath caught in my throat and I nearly dropped Styrka. That voice. I knew that voice. “Defect?”

“I am but a shell of my former self, thanks to your friend,” it said, it’s voice completely neutral. “But yes, that is still accurate.”

“I thought it was gone for good!” I exclaimed to Neila. “Please tell me you can hack into it again and end this.”

“Somehow part of it survived my trap… And I can’t. It’s like it’s not even there. I might as well be trying to hack a brick.”

“Great…” I returned my attention to the Defect, who had remained perfectly still as if deep in thought. My legs were about halfway done with healing. I needed just a bit more time. “Why have you returned? The Mother has been defeated and you have no business bringing destruction here.”

“I was promised a home on this planet by one of your own, and he has failed to keep his promise.”

“I don’t remember anyone promising you anything, and I can’t imagine why they would do it with someone like you.”

“He went by the name of Kyrom Rognos.”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “Of course it was him. Why didn’t you ask him before razing a city?”

“I did.” The Defect tilted its head slightly. “And he immediately ordered my execution once he realized I still existed.”

“I’m not surprised.”

A low, steady rumbling echoed from somewhere to my right.

“More fighter jets are approaching,” Neila warned from above.

I continued. “So you plan to destroy Earth now, is that it?”

“No. My purpose is to eliminate threats.” It raised its gaze to somewhere far above me. “As I have learned, there is only one being who is a threat to me.”

“How can it see me?” Neila said, startled. “I’m still cloaked!”

The engine rumble steadily grew louder. Neila’s voice rang in my head. “They’re firing at you too!”

I jerked my head to the right, and sure enough there was another squad of fighter jets approaching rapidly. They had fired several missiles, and five of them were headed straight for me. I raised my arm and fired an antimatter bullet, exploding all five in a purple flash. The Defect had defended itself with its plasma beam like before.

“Hey!” I yelled, commanding my head armor to collapse back into my armor’s collar so they could see my face. I amplified my voice over the roar of the jets as they passed overhead. “I’M ON YOUR SIDE!”

“Focus on the Defect, Connor,” Neila said, determined. “I’m telling them to fuck off as we speak.”

The Defect did not retaliate this time, opting to return its gaze to me. I reengaged my head armor again. My legs were now fully healed. I stepped forward experimentally, twirling Styrka in my hand to keep myself moving. “I’m sorry, bud. Neila’s mine, not yours.”

“If you back down, then I will spare your life.”

I growled, raising Styrka into an overhead guard position. “I’m afraid I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request.”

The Defect tilted its head and remained silent.

“Means ‘no’.” I retorted.

“Then you shall perish as well.” The Defect pointed an arm at me and it morphed into a rapidly rotating cone. Light flashed.

I had just enough time to extend my own arm. The magnetic field was barely strong enough to split the plasma beam. I squinted through the intense light to see what my options were, but it was futile.

“Watch out!” Neila called.

Before I could react, the plasma beam ceased, and the Defect was right in front of me winding up a kick. My head nearly came off my neck. The world spun around me hundreds of times, and then I crashed into something hard. That only slowed the spinning, and it took several more crashes before I slid to a stop on my belly on the highway. I blinked, unsure of what just happened.

“Connor, get up!” Neila cried in terror.

I lifted my head off the concrete, but the Defect wasn’t there. Motion came from above, and I instinctually rolled to my right and popped up to my feet. Both of the Defect’s cone-arms drove deep into the pavement where my head had just been.

Jumping away, I fired several antimatter bullets and they each hit their mark in the center of the Defect’s chest. It had made no attempt to defend itself. When the smoke cleared, it was still standing there and still moving. Its chest glowed a bright orange where the bullet had exploded.

“Uh, that’s new,” I said, raising Styrka back into a guard position.

“Don’t use any more of those against it,” Neila said. “It just absorbed the energy. Looks like only brute force will damage it.”

Before I could think of my response, the orange glow in the Defect’s chest split and rushed into both of its arms. I dove to the side, deflecting the plasma beams with another magnetic field. My power gauge flashed in my interface. I had only fifty percent left.

Getting close was my only option, so I did the only thing I could think of. I leapt above the next plasma beam and ignited Styrka once more. The Defect was forced to duck below my head strike, and it retaliated with another astounding kick to my chest. I tumbled in the air this time. I closed my eyes to stop the world from spinning, and I flared my wings as wide as they would go. Meanwhile, Neila continued to coach me in my head. “Stay on the ground, Connor! You can’t make quick movements in the air.”

I ricocheted off the corner of a brick building, but I managed to regain aerial balance to keep myself from crashing onto the pavement of the nearby street. The wireframe showed that several bones in my body had fractured. Fear and doubt began to cloud my mind at once. Perhaps I couldn’t take this thing on my own.

A noise prompted me to turn back to the Defect. It flew at me with incredible speed, and I only had time to throw my hands up to block its arm-spikes from impaling my chest. Its momentum carried me to the ground and my back was grinded into the tarmac until we slid to a halt.

The Defect slammed both its arm and its massive tail into the tarmac to anchor itself. It planted a foot on both my legs, immobilizing them. All my focus went into keeping its arm from driving into my chest, and it wasn’t long before my biceps and forearms began to overheat. My power was now below thirty-five percent. The tip of the spike inched closer with each second. I realized with horror that I had no options. Except for one.

“Neila! Help!” I yelled. “Help! HELP!”

“Already on my way!”

I almost began to believe she wasn’t going to arrive in time, but there was a glimmer off to the side. The Defect looked up and leapt away, executing a midair backflip. Something bright passed through where the Defect had stood.

As soon as I was free, I sprung to my feet and called Styrka, which I had dropped in my last interaction with the Defect, back to me.

The Defect landed gracefully, and Neila looped up and landed on the opposite side of the Defect, trapping it between us. She uncamouflaged, and rose slowly from her kneeling position. “Alexa, play something dramatic.”

Neila magnetized her plasma sword hilt to her hand. It looked to be twice as long as Styrka’s hilt. She jerked it back, and a blade shot out the back. She jerked it forward, and a second blade sprung from the front. Both blades erupted with bright red plasma on their edges. They blurred into ribbons of scarlet as she twirled it around herself with the dexterity of an expert swordsman. She finished in a squatted guard position with the blades held horizontally in front of her chest. “Ya want a piece o’ this?”

The Defect panned its gaze slowly between us, as if deciding what to do. Then its forearms and the tip of its tail formed into long blades. It rose them high, as if in acceptance of the challenge. Then they ignited with their own white plasma.

Neila and I rushed at it simultaneously. It burst into action. I was forced to duck to avoid getting decapitated by its tail. I tried to simultaneously strike as I ducked, but I was too slow. Neila blocked one of its arm strikes while jumping over the other.

I went to get within striking distance again, but its tail struck at me again. It was coming in too low for me to duck, so I hopped instead. As it passed under me, I lost all sensation in the last three quarters of my tail. The tail of the wireframe went gray. I had forgotten to raise it as I hopped.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as my severed tail tumbled onto the sidewalk and crashed through a storefront window. The stump of the tail glowed a dim red. My power dropped from thirty percent to below twenty percent. I grimaced. “Shit.”

Now my balance was slightly off. I had to leap back to avoid the next swing from the Defect’s tail. Neila was holding it at bay with her double-bladed plasma sword. There were even a few yellow gashes on its knees and elbows where she had struck. I relaxed a bit, knowing there really was hope for this fight.

The Defect’s tail rose like a viper poised to strike, and I decided to meet it head-on. I lunged forward with Styrka raised to block. At the last moment the tail twisted around, formed back into a full tail, and wrapped itself around my neck and arms. The tail pulled me up into the air. My arms crumpled next to my head. Styrka still blazed above it, but with the tremendous force crushing my arms together, I couldn’t move.

Panic enveloped my mind for a split second before I realized there was a way out. I commanded the armor around my head and neck to dislocate from the rest of the suit. I curled my legs up towards my neck and managed to loosen the tail just enough. Pushing up with my arms, I slid my head out of the armor and out of the death grip. I dropped to the ground and jumped away as I watched my head armor get crumpled into an unrecognizable metal lump.

Seeing my retreat, Neila jumped away from the Defect as well. Part of her wing was severed off, and her armor bore several dents and gashes that were slowly repairing themselves. “I’m starting to run low.”

“Me too,” I said, watching the Defect intently as it took a momentary pause from the combat. How much energy did it have left? My power gauge now read below ten percent. I realized I had Styrka ignited this entire time, and that was guzzling my energy reserves. “We need to think of something and quick.”

“I don’t know, I—” Neila started. The Defect suddenly lunged at her with renewed vigor. She barely parried the first blow, but the second from the other arm came in too fast. The blade flashed as it cut through her midsection like it was made of butter. Her bottom half collapsed to the ground while her top half flew twenty feet away.

“NEILA!” I screamed. Rage pulsed through my entire being at once. I launched myself at the Defect with the full intent of cutting its body vertically in half with one clean strike.

But I had forgotten about the tail. The blade streaked toward my midsection, and I brought Styrka down just in time to block it. The interaction resulted in an explosion of sparks and I flew to the side unharmed.

I broke my fall with my arm and got up just in time to see the Defect fling Neila’s bottom half a mile in the other direction. She held her glowing plasma sword in one hand while supporting her torso with her other. The Defect sent a clean strike through the middle of her blade’s hilt and the entire thing collapsed to dust in her hand.

“No!” she yelped, using both arms to launch herself away and avoid a deathblow. When she landed, she began blasting it with antimatter bullets to keep it at bay. Each one knocked it back a couple of feet, but she was going to run out quick.

I prepared to launch myself at the Defect once more, but I stopped myself. What was my plan this time? Each time I brute-forced my approach, I failed to make any progress.

“I can’t do anything to it!” I cried. “And I’m almost out of power!”

“Here, the Thunderbolt,” Neila said, briefly reaching at something behind her neck. She produced a silver orb and hurled it at me past the Defect, then continued firing antimatter bullets. “Say ‘Shazam’.”

I caught it and gave her a suspicious look. “Uh, Shazam?”

Suddenly the orb twisted out of my hand and ascended above me where it emanated a high-pitched whining noise. I stared at it, wondering how in the world this would make any difference. Then a web of lightning erupted outward and lashed out at me. My muscles went stiff momentarily, and my vision flickered.

I fell to one knee and regained my composure. Smoke drifted up from where the lightning had made contact. My body buzzed with energy, though there was no visual difference.

<- Thunderbolt Detonation Detected ->

<- T.H.O.R. Mode Activated ->

Suddenly, time moved at snails-pace. I stood. My body felt incredibly responsive. My power gauge registered at one hundred twenty percent.

Neila fired her last few antimatter bullets at the Defect which was now glowing orange. It raised its arms to deliver the final blow. Neila cowered with her head under her arms. Her voice was that of absolute terror. “No! Don’t kill me. PLEASE! I’m sorry. I don’t want to die!”

I squeezed Styrka’s hilt, and the blade glowed with plasma much brighter than before. Then, my body moved seemingly on its own. My steps were so light I hardly heard them. Each stride was an elegant work of art. I did not know what I was going to do, but that didn’t scare me.

The tail posed to strike once more. Somehow, I was vividly aware of its every movement. Just like before, it struck at my torso. I didn’t duck. I didn’t jump.

I reached out and caught it in my fingertips. The blazing edge was less than an inch from my palm. The momentum of the strike nudged me a bit, but my legs were in the perfect position on the ground to absorb the impact.

I pulled myself forward and swung Styrka in a wide upward arc. It cut through the base of the Defect’s tail like it was made of air. The tail’s blade went dormant, then I flung the entire thing behind me.

I ducked and pointed Styrka at the sky. The Defect’s arm blade passed over me and Styrka severed it at the wrist. I rolled under the Defect’s second arm and seized Neila by the wing. After carrying her to a safe distance, I put her down and faced the Defect once more. Neila stayed in her cowering position behind me.

The Defect reached back and pointed its stump arm at the severed sword-limb. The blade flew up and reattached itself to the stump. I raised an eyeridge. “That’s interesting.”

I looked back and forth between Styrka and the Defect. I had a stupid idea, but if it worked, I’d get the upper hand.

I smirked. “Alexa, play something epic.”

I spun Styrka once within my hand, then I tossed it in the air toward the Defect. It looked up at Styrka curiously and reached out for it. Its hand was yanked toward the ground, and that was when I made my move. I sprinted forward, barely touching the ground with my feet.

The Defect went to stab down at Styrka to free his arm. I willed Styrka back to me, and the Defect ended up stabbing its own hand. Styrka whistled into my hand and ignited at once. I struck upward and severed the Defect’s arm at the shoulder. Using my momentum, I landed a kick square in its chest. It flew across the street and smashed into the corner of a brick building. A few bricks fell on top of its head while it got up, but that didn’t do much damage.

I grabbed the Defect’s severed arm and hurled it far away, just as it had done with Neila’s lower half. Turning back to the Defect, I realized it was near its severed tail. It had realized that too. We both made lunges at the tail, but it was clear the Defect would make it there first, so I changed tack. I flung Styrka as hard as I could, willing it to impale itself in the tail. I willed it back to me, and it brought the entire tail with it.

I grabbed hold of Styrka and flung the tail far behind me again. The Defect reared its head at me, somehow displaying a bit of anger with its movement. I gritted my teeth. My energy reserves were already below eighty percent. It was time to end this.

This time the Defect charged at me, and I was ready for it. I hurled Styrka again and the Defect twisted to dodge it. I ran forward to engage the Defect. It swung its only sword arm at me and I caught it effortlessly. I shot a challenging glare at its emotionless face. Styrka was still flying in the direction I’d thrown it. I closed my eyes and willed it to flip around and return to me.

I pulled the Defect at me and slammed my fist into its chest. This time I made a small dent. It flew back, dazed from the impact. I crouched for what was about to happen next.

Styrka’s blade erupted from the center of its chest, causing it to look down in surprise. The blade’s momentum flung the Defect’s body back to me. I took one enormous step forward and landed a massive uppercut on the Defect’s chin. The impact launched the Defect high into the air, and I leapt after it.

As I rose to its height, I checked on the status of my jets. Miraculously, they were in perfect shape and still had plenty of fuel left. I primed them immediately. I willed Styrka to dislodge itself from the Defect’s chest and return to me. I retracted it and attached it back to my armor.

Without further hesitation, I seized the Defect’s neck in both of my hands and fired my jets at full power. I angled myself downward at the street we had been fighting on. The ground rushed up at us, and we impacted it with the force of a meteor. My hands nearly lost their grip but held steady. I let out a long roar of fury as my jets propelled us diagonally into the tarmac. Our speed kicked up a wide wake of debris that destroyed everything it landed upon. The Defect’s body jerked around violently as it continuously pulverized the concrete beneath it. The yellow glow in the Defect’s eyes began to fade. After a few seconds, it began to crumble under my hands, and soon there was nothing but scraps of mangled metal in my hands.

I powered down my jets and galloped on all fours as I washed off the rest of my momentum. I stood, not sure how I did what I just did. It was eerily quiet in Sacramento. Except for the sound of a distant helicopter. I turned around to see what I had done. A quarter mile long trench stretched down the street with pieces of the Defect’s body lying at the sides. Neila still lay on the street in the distance, looking in my direction with interest. She didn’t say anything.

The helicopter sound grew louder, and when I turned toward it I realized it had a camera trained on me. I immediately camouflaged myself and jogged over to Neila, who had by then also camouflaged herself.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Neila remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yeah,” I said, chuckling. “I love you too.”

“Wanna help me find my other half? You saw what the Defect did with its severed arm. We can do that too.”

I grabbed her arm and lifted her onto my back. I turned to the general direction the Defect had flung her lower half. As I crouched to jump, Neila spoke up. “Wait, aren’t you forgetting something?”

I paused to wonder what she meant. “Oh, heh, my tail.”

I put Neila back down and jogged over to the building where my severed tail lie. When I found it, it was only a matter of turning my back to it and selecting an option in my interface. When it reattached, the experience of returning sensation was exhilarating.

The flight to Neila’s other half was quick. She reattached in a matter of seconds and we took off immediately. More helicopters were arriving and the sounds of police sirens echoed throughout the streets.

As we ascended into the sky, I stared at the ground far below. Disturbed with how close to death both of us had come. Whether we grew from this experience or not, I couldn’t tell yet, but I would have paid any amount of money to avoid any experience like this in the future. I might have won the fight, but there was no feeling of victory. Just dull rumination.

“Hey!” Neila said after a minute of silence. “You’re on the news!”

She requested to share video feed through our implants and I accepted. A window popped up in the corner of my vision showing the city from afar. I had just uppercut the Defect and was preparing to drive it into the ground with my jets. The footage lost sight of us behind buildings for thirty seconds, then the camera quickly panned over to me standing in the middle of the street gazing back at the destruction. Then I looked directly at the camera and vanished from sight as I camouflaged. The entire time, a female reporter was talking over the footage. “It seems we have come to a conclusion to the crisis in Sacramento. After what looked to be a hard-fought battle, the demon has been destroyed by what some people are now calling the ‘White Angel’. Nobody knows the exact origin of either of these creatures, but many are suspicious that the Asturnians have caused this event. We will have official word from them shortly.”

The commentary went on about the actions of the military and police, but I lost interest.

“Looks like you’re famous now,” Neila said, sounding proud. “We made a good team.”

I looked straight ahead at the clouds we were about to fly through.

“That still doesn’t make us superheroes.”

———-

Author’s note: Thank you so much for taking the time to read this short story! As you can tell, I had a bit of fun with it. Feel free to leave a comment below. What resonated with you? Which parts put a smile on your face? I’d love to hear your feedback.

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