Corpies (Super Powereds Spinoff Book 1) (57 page)

“Zone, Bubble Bubble, I just want you to know how proud I am of both of you, and of all we’ve accomplished as a team. No matter what happens next, try to take comfort in the fact that we are among the few who can say we left this world better than we found it.”

Bubble Bubble’s arms fell, and the orb around them flickered out of existence. Galvanize, all his bravery spent on surviving this long, closed his eyes. He’d done enough; staring down a firing squad wasn’t the way he wanted to go.

Instead of hot, searing pain ripping apart his body, however, Galvanize felt a tremendous blast of wind strike and send him spinning roughly through the air. When he finally landed and managed to pull his eyelids apart, he was no longer trapped beneath the robot.

Instead, Gale was staring at him, at his whole team, who were miraculously unhurt. She floated above them, lit by the afternoon sun which they could once again see. Her wind had blown them some distance from the mech, which seemed to be distracted.

“About time you dropped that shield,” Gale said. “I’ve been trying to get you out for the past thirty seconds. Titan, your people are clear. Time to step it up.”

“Titan is here?” Bubble Bubble asked, turning her head in a vain effort to find their Hero Liaison.

“Sure is, who do you think kept that thing distracted?” Gale asked. “But now that you’re out, he’s going to stop playing so nice. And as soon as I get you three a little higher and safer, I’m going to help.”

“Wait!” Galvanize yelped. “Hexcellent needs your help more; she got trapped a few blocks behind us.”

Gale merely smiled as a new gust of wind began to lift them up from the ground. “Hexcellent is probably the best off of anyone here. Don’t worry, you’ll definitely see it from the rooftops.”

109.

               “Titan, your people are clear.”

Owen’s whole body tingled with relief at those words, aided a bit perhaps by the energy blast one of the robots nearby was trying to kill him with. It had been hard, letting Gale be the one to go save them, trusting her to make sure they survived, but part of being a Hero was accepting that no one was the best at everything. For rapid extraction, Gale’s abilities were better suited than his, and he was certainly the superior choice for a distraction. Still, ever since she’d left his sight and he’d begun ripping up robots and throwing them at the big mech, his heart had been filled with worry that something would go wrong. He’d already failed so many people who depended on him throughout his life. Losing his team might be one blow too many.

But that hadn’t happened. Gale had gotten them clear and was likely lifting them somewhere safe before she rejoined the battle. Owen grabbed another robot and shredded it into two pieces, then hurled both at the mech. His projectiles weren’t doing any real damage, but he was definitely holding the thing’s attention, drawing occasional rounds of bullets and energy, neither of which caused Owen to so much as stumble.

“Dispatch, what’s the situation with civilians around me?”

“This area was a business district that began evacuations during the first wave of attack,” Dispatch told him. “The last stragglers were seen fleeing several minutes prior, though not all were successful. By current accounts, the area is considered fully evacuated.”

“Glad to hear it. And my clearance for property?”

“The DVA has ruled that if Jeremiah’s theory proves true, targeting the large robots would be far more prudent than fully unleashing Manhattan-level Heroes. They want to see a big one brought dropped as soon as possible, and with the civilians gone, you are in one of the best positions. Clearance is Full Demolition: do what’s necessary to bring your target down,” Dispatch instructed.

“Understood. I’ll still try to minimize where I can.” It wasn’t always possible to get DVA clearances in the heat of battle, but for a fight this big, Owen knew damn well doing so would make things easier. There was going to be a lot of cleanup and insurance claims when this was all said and done, and the last thing he needed was to be held for reckless destruction. But now they’d given him their blessing, and he knew the area was as clear as possible.

He could finally get down to work.

“You know, I’ve had to fight robots before. Not this many or this often, but your kind pops up from time to time when some smart Super wants a machine to do their dirty work.” Owen grabbed a pair of the robots that were trying to attack and crushed them in his hands, scattering their debris as he moved forward. Another came at him; seconds later it was in pieces. With no other Heroes or civilians around, he didn’t have to worry about where the hurled shrapnel might land.

“Personally, I’m not really a fan. I prefer opponents who can think on their feet and maybe use enough wisdom to give up when they know the fight is unwinnable.”

This time, five of them ran for him. Owen met them head on. The things were strong, no doubt about it, but Owen had fought stronger, and that was all it took. Raise the bar once and that’s where it lived forever on. His power was a brutish, simple one that paled in comparison to some of the more grandiose out there, but it
was
effective. In seconds, the five robots were pieces in his wake, and the large mech was only a few feet away.

“There is one good thing about dealing with robots, though. Especially ones as big as you. It’s probably the only time I get to have a fight where I don’t need to hold back. And I have to say, from time to time, that is an absolute pleasure.”

The mech turned to launch another pointless barrage of projectiles at him, but Owen was no longer there. He’d leapt into the air, turning the ground below him into utter rubble as he soared upward. His course was the center of the mech’s torso, but as he’d expected, it wasn’t going to let him land so easily. One of the four arms swept through the air, intent on smacking Owen back to the ground. Instead, he grabbed on as it struck, his fingers bending the metal as he pulled himself up, getting into position just above where the massive gun joined to its wrist.

“You big guys always seem tough, but beating you is just about knowing the simple trick. It’s the same way you eat a whale. One bite at a time, you bastard.” He reared back, spreading out his palm to get as wide a surface area as possible, then slammed his hand through the metal wrist. It took several more blows, but eventually the wrist was so shattered that the entire gun broke away, smashing to the ground and flattening a few robots in the process.

Owen looked up at the six-eyed head. He was pretty sure at least a few of those orbs were gazing angrily at him. If the thing was pissed now, it would be livid by the time he was finished.

He began to climb up the remaining section of arm, slowly making his way closer to the torso. A loud whooshing sound ripped through the air, and suddenly Owen found himself and the arm he was holding in free fall. They crashed heavily on to the street, and before he could react, one of the six legs was above him and dropping fast, clearly intent on crushing him like a bug.

“Detaching parts, pretty clever,” Owen admitted as he rolled out of the way. “But you’ll run out of arms eventually.” The leg kept pace with his movements, and as he pushed off the ground, it slammed into his back, pinning him to the concrete below.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” Gale’s voice came through his comm, and even though he couldn’t see where she was at the moment, she obviously had line of sight on him.

“Been better,” Owen admitted, his voice a bit strained. “But I’m pretty sure the gravity thingie they put in these to make them light enough to function reduced its weight. Normally I’d expect this to be a lot worse.”

“Normally? One day we need to have a talk about what you consider normal,” Gale said. “Can you get out?”

“Not easily. I’m strong enough to move, but with this much weight, if I try to shove off the ground my arms will probably go right through it, especially given how much we’ve wrecked the street. Little help?”

“Pretty sure I can hit it hard enough to knock it aside, but you’ll need to scramble,” Gale warned.

“Even a second is plenty. I just have to flip over. Then I can grab the damn leg and start tearing it apart.”

“Yeah, I heard your whole ‘one bite at a time’ spiel. Personally, if I had to kill a whale, I think I’d rather a harpoon to the heart.” Even as she spoke, Owen could hear the wind picking up around her. He mentally readied himself for the impending attack.

“Those arms are quick, they’ll knock me aside if I do a direct run,” Owen told her.

“In a hurricane, winds blow so fast that pencils get embedded in trees. I’m pretty sure I can get you past a few waving arms. Now get ready: that leg is about to move.”

“If you can do it, I’m in.” Owen barely got the words out when a tremendous blast of wind deafened him. It struck the leg at one of its joints and bent it outward. The pressure on Owen vanished. He pushed himself forward, getting on his feet before the leg could pin him again. He’d made it all of ten steps before another blast of wind hit him in the back, lifting him skyward at a rapidly increasing speed.

“Pretend you’re doing a cannonball off the high-dive,” Gale instructed, yelling to be heard over the comms. “Tuck everything in and prepare for impact. As of now I’m Captain Ahab, except we’re killing our damned whale.”

110.

It had been a long time since Owen was in a real fight. Picking off stray robots here and there didn’t exactly test his limits, and while the work with his team was rewarding, it usually demanded more effort to keep control than to push himself. The assessment with Elemental Fury was the nearest he’d come, and even that was closer to a dance than a brawl since he had to evade and subdue without seriously injuring. He’d been so long outside of a true battle that he’d almost forgotten the thrill of danger and adrenaline that coursed through one’s system.

That familiar feeling came rushing back as he tore through the air, moving so fast that he couldn’t even see the giant mech’s arms as it reached uselessly for him. Gale had built up too much speed for the thing to have a shot in hell.

Owen roared past all its defenses and slammed directly into its chest. Were he human, or even less-established in his career, Owen would have been a smear on the metal surface. Instead, he left a sizable dent and merely shook his head, more dizzy from the ride than hurt from the stop.

Already he could see the remaining arms reaching for him, so Owen didn’t waste the time he had. Bending the metal under his fingers to get a solid grip, he reared back and punched directly into the dent he’d made. Unlike when fighting the robot’s arm, this time he tried to concentrate the force as much as possible. His fist effortlessly broke through the armored barrier. Grabbing both sides of the hole, he tore it wider and then tumbled through, only a few feet ahead of the metal appendages trying to knock him away.

Truthfully, he hadn’t been entirely sure what to expect once he was inside. Robots might be semi-regular occurrences in the Hero world, but the giant type weren’t exactly run-of-the-mill. Part of him expected the cavity within to be filled with the smaller bots operating the big mech like some sort of weird puppet. Instead, it seemed like he’d just thrown himself into a gigantic car engine. All around him were motors, pistons, and wires so tightly bunched together that he could barely move without bumping into something.

Owen was a little disappointed, actually. Silly as it might have been, he would have loved to have seen the puppet theory in action. On the upside, however, this made his job a whole lot easier. He didn’t know how these things worked or what critical parts would take it down, so Owen was just going to break everything, which was much easier, especially when it was all neatly packed in like this.

Setting his sights on the nearest cluster of moving metal beams, Owen braced himself and threw a punch that he hoped would be just strong enough to send the heavier bits bouncing around inside the armored torso.

*             *             *

No one was sure exactly what came bursting out of the mech’s back like buckshot, flying into the air before they could make out so much as a blurry detail, but the PEERS team had a pretty good idea of what had caused it. After all, witnessing Gale fling Titan into the giant robot’s chest had significantly narrowed down the need for conjecture.

Despite the large crater in its front and smoking holes in its back, the mech continued moving about, seemingly unbothered by the Hero currently tearing up its insides. More of the smaller bots were still pouring out, though they seemed to slow significantly. Whether it was running out of steam or keeping the bots inside to fight the intruder was anyone’s guess, though the latter strategy seemed like it would be pretty inefficient.

“Just like the good old days.” The voice came from the rooftop’s edge where a man wearing a familiar Hero costume was climbing up from the fire escape. “I mean, not the giant robot part. Tech wasn’t quite as fancy as it is these days so they never got them that big. But dropping Titan into the middle of a fray and letting him do his work, now that takes me back.”

“A pleasure to see you again, Topsy,” Galvanize greeted him. “What brings you to our rooftop?”

 “Heard Titan’s people were in need of a little help, and seeing as I’m technically just supposed to be a coach anyway, it seemed like a good place for me to lend a hand,” Topsy replied. “Besides, Titan looked out for my team; least I could do is watch over his. Seems like it might have been unnecessary, though.”