Project Northwoods (95 page)

“What are you doing?” he asked pointedly.

“I was just…”

“Stay in here, for villains’ sake,” he grunted in annoyance.

Allison clicked her tongue with a similar tone of displeasure. “Just like Catalina.”

“Arthur!” Mollie squeaked in his ear.

He was grateful for the intrusion. “Yeah?”

“Search drones inbound,” she sighed quickly.

Mast dove for cover as Athena pulled together a swirling shield of debris in front of her before exploding it outward, the shrapnel from the explosion blasting one agent off his feet and making the other clasp his suddenly bleeding neck. Mast rolled onto her back to face the telekinetic when she was hit with an audio blast from Siren. She took aim, even though the bullet would be deflected by Athena.

“Haven’t you learned?” Athena laughed mockingly, not noticing Zombress running at her full-tilt. The Queen of Fear leapt and punched the SERAPHIM hard across the jaw, sending her rocketing to the rooftop.

Siren was distracted, the sudden takedown of her fellow commander drawing her attention toward Zombress. The villain winced and buckled but didn’t scream as Siren targeted her. Mast squeezed the trigger.

A plume of blood spurted from Siren’s neck. She hit the rooftop, clutching her throat. Mast tossed the expended rifle aside, leapt to her feet, and pulled out one of her sidearms.

“Diane!” Zombress shouted, and the agent spun toward the sound. Thanatos leapt at Mast, arm outstretched to strike her down. She got off a shot right as she was tackled, the bullet stopped by the mercenary’s vest. The hero continued the dive, pinning Mast beneath her.

The first fist to hit her burned, like someone had dumped acid on her cheek. Before she was struck again, Zombress smashed into the heroine, knocking her off and into a heap.

“Agent Mast,” her headset buzzed with Arthur’s voice as she got upright.

“Busy, Arthur!” she responded, yanking Thanatos up and off Zombress, pistol-whipping the SERAPHIM across the face. She slammed a fist against the hero’s exposed chin. On contact, Mast’s world flooded white. The mercenary crumpled as the agent staggered, suddenly nauseated.

“You’re going to have search drones in your location in thirty seconds!”

Before she could react, a telekinetic shove rocketed her backward, toward the smoldering wreck of the helicopter, leaving Zombress crumpling to her knees under a newly insistent attack from Siren.

“Keep it up!” one of the Enforcers shouted at Morgan and Ariana, the team working to knock down waves of SERAPHIM and keep them down as near-boiling liquid clung to their skins.

“We could do this all night!” Ariana shouted in response as a globe of water whipped by her. She held out her hand, and the sphere turned dark and steaming before slamming into a formation of mercenaries, exploding with a pop. Enforcers blocked their faces as the wall of coffee cascaded, reformed into a wave, and sprayed into the crowd of formerly white-suited attackers. Above their cries, the soft whipping of a helicopter could barely be heard, until it was rapidly overtaken by rifle reports.

“Ariana, over there!” Morgan shouted, throwing a curtain of water up and out of the fountain before slamming it down on the shooters to their flank.

Ariana whipped around and snapped her fingers for emphasis, feeling the small hairs of her arm stand on end as her power rolled off her and into the water, transmuting it into something more damaging. She bared her teeth, enjoying the feeling of the adrenaline, when her eyes fell on a calmly advancing hero throwing off his overcoat.

Sandy-blond hair, eyes filled with hate, wicked scar running up his face…

Erich Constantine.

Cold fear locked her in place as a helmet appeared from out of his armored suit, snaking up and covering his face. He pounded his gauntlets together, sending out tendrils of green energy, before knocking two Enforcers out of his way. He wasn’t intent on her, but on Morgan, who, in her frenzy, was focused elsewhere.

Colonel Morant brought his stun baton across a large mercenary’s face, but the man didn’t go down. He brought his rifle up, but the Enforcer was able to twist and catch the gun between his arm and torso. With his free hand, the SERAPHIM grabbed Morant by the throat and squeezed, lifting him off the ground. Panicked, the Enforcer dropped his weapon as he gripped his attacker’s wrist. The colonel brought his legs up and planted them on the chest of his opponent, pushing him off with one great burst of effort. Morant fell to the ground, back aching as he sprang upright.

The larger man brought his weapon to bear. Morant grabbed the barrel and shoved up with one hand while grasping for the other man’s trigger finger with his free hand. The gun cracked before the colonel managed to wrest the finger free of its position and break it. Screaming, the mercenary backed away as Morant let the gun fall to the ground. Darting forward, the colonel’s hands snaked around his opponent’s neck and pulled him down before stomping as hard as he could on the man’s kneecap. The bone cracked and sent the mercenary tumbling forward before a final blow, a quick uppercut, sent him reeling backward.

As Morant stooped to recover his weapon, bright lights flooded the battlefield. Somewhere above the din, he heard the hum of the pair of search drones descending on them. One split from the other and sped toward the rooftop.

“Attention villains,” boomed the computerized voice over the thunder of combat. “You have been declared rogue elements. The High Consul has authorized the use of lethal…”

One of the engines on the side of the vehicle exploded, rocking it off balance. Before it could stabilize, a helicopter emblazoned with the VWN logo tore through the billowing smoke. The cheer that erupted from the combatants quickly returned to the cacophony of fighting.

“Looks like we hit the party just in time, Marsh!” Jack Cleese shouted over the headset. He laughed and took a swig from the bottle of cooking sherry he had come across in the hours earlier.

Marsh leaned back into the cabin of the craft, smirking. “We’re not out of the woods yet, you crazy motherfucker.”

“I’m the one piloting while you’re leaning out and shooting like a madman,” Cleese said. “I, sir, am not crazy.” The sky around them lit up with tracer fire, forcing Cleese to barrel roll the chopper before pulling up in a climb. “See?” he turned back to Marsh, the actor holding onto some crash webbing for dear life. “There’s nothing to these whirlybirds!” With another laugh, he angled the helicopter downward toward the Guild rooftop. Behind them, the search drone whipped past, continuing to climb.

“Taking out one of the turbines was one-in-a-million on a good day, you bastard!” Marsh screamed. “How can I shoot anything with you flying like this?”

“My boy, you’d never make a good villain,” Cleese said coolly, his eyes fixed on the search drone slowing to a crawl over the rooftop. “Where’s your imagination?”

The second Zombress saw the spotlight erupt and head to the roof, she panicked, even though she was still locked in combat with Thanatos. Mast had temporarily taken Siren out of play, but Athena was still batting the two of them around and making a general mess of things. With a surge of strength, Zombress shoved the SERAPHIM off of her and held her arms out. Thanatos recovered and leapt toward her as Zombress’s fingers carved red symbols in the air. The villain backflipped, sending a foot into Thanatos’s chin and sending her skyward.

Once again upright, Zombress slammed her hands together, shattering the sigils. Her hands glowed as she pulled them apart, a flickering three-foot bar of energy between them. Her left foot dug into the gravel and right thumb flicked across her nose as she assumed a batter’s stance. Thanatos fell into her line of sight and she swung, cracking the bar of energy against the mercenary and shattering it in a display of sparks. Her opponent rag-dolled on impact, the slumped form thrown through the air. The speeding body collided with Athena, and the two splattered to the roof.

“Assume I made a clever remark about reaching third base with your sorry ass,” she shouted, turning on her heel and sprinting toward Agent Mast as the search drone wobbled overhead. She dove into her compatriot as the machine opened fire. Mast in tow, she sprinted over the rooftop, armor piercing rounds slamming just behind her. Zombress leapt and spun in the air, carving the symbols necessary for her shield. “
Elder Sign!
” she shouted, summoning the barrier. Bullets slammed into it, sending shards evaporating into the night.

Mast rolled out of her grasp and Zombress repositioned herself into a kneel, carving more symbols to reinforce the disintegrating structure. “Thanks,” Mast said. “This really got out of hand,” she observed dryly.

“Don’t worry about it,” Zombress grunted.

Her ears prickled at the sound below her, an escalating argument. “We need to help them!” shouted a male voice impatiently.

“We need to keep sweeping the Guild for intruders,” came a smooth voice which immediately made Zombress angry: Archetype, his cadence made all the more vile by implicit violence. “It would be a shame if someone were to get the drop on you.” She doubted his companion noticed the threat, but it wasn’t lost on her.