Tale of the Reader Pt. 4
This one is a little longer than the others, so enjoy. Also, feel free to comment and correct anything you see that is incorrect. I want to get better at this. Anyway, enjoy the story.
P.S. Thoughts are in between asterisks.
We both just stood there, caught up in one another's lips, lost in the moment for I don't know how long, before we both pulled away, gasping for breath. Nadia looked at me with her dark green eyes, eyes that before now I had never really noticed.
"Well..." I said into the almost awkward silence that followed us pulling apart, "That was new..."
She blushed, "Uh, yeah, that was a little different."
"So, um, how long have you wanted to do that?" I immediatley felt stupid. What kind of question was that?
She blushed an even darker shade of red, "Well...kinda since we first met... You just have a kind of---I don't know---feeling around you. It's, well it's hard to explain. When I first saw you I just, well, felt something...I don't know, I'm just not good with words you know?"
I grinned at her, "Yeah, I kinda not- Get down!" I shoved her to the ground and quickly dived after her, just a moment before a huge explosion tore over us.
I slowly got up, my knees strangely weak, and turned toward the source. It was the building across the street, and it had been almost completely blown apart. I was surprised to realize that we were alive at all, when I noticed the circle. A perfect circle on the street where we had been lying, an uncharred piece of road surrounded by torn apart asphalt and cement. *What the hell? Did I do that? I don't even remember...* I saw Nadia pick herself up, and then I heard (I was surprised I still could) the sound of the Wall's defenses firing. Streams of anti-air fire shot into the dark sky, lighting it up like some twisted version of the Fourth of July, and illuminated small pods still red with re-entry heat falling towards the city. In distant flashes of light, a large number of these pods were destroyed by the almost inhumanly accurate fire from the automated defenses, but many were still falling. When the first of these pods hit I was surprised to hear, or rather to not hear, an explosion. Instead, each was accompanied by an earth shaking thud as they smashed into buildings and streets alike. One landed a short distance down the street from us, and I was thrown off my feet by the rush of displaced air. I slowly looked up just in time to see all four of the pod's walls blow out. There was movement inside, and I saw several armored figures step out. They were like something out of a nightmare. Helmets similar in shape to gas-masks with glowing yellow eyes, armored bodies clanking softly as the plates brushed against one another, these figures stepped out and surveyed the street they had dropped into.
I grabbed my .357 from its holster and took careful aim, for the first time in a long time I actively used my pre-cognition to tell me where and how they would move. I fired three shots in quick succession as the armored figures turned toward me. All three shots hit the leader, the one whose dark grey armor had a red band running across one arm, in his glowing left eye. The first two shots weakened the supposedly bullet-proof lense enough for the third to smash through and into the leviathon's head, splattering his brain onto the inside of his helmet. I quickly turned toward the other two just in time to see a small, round object fly past me and land between them. The grenade exploded and flung the once mighty armored leviathans to the side. One of them, a split second before the explosion, had gotten a shot off and I saw it racing toward my head, strangely slow. Before I even realized what I was doing, I simply reached out a hand and caught the strange blue bolt, turning it aside so that it harmlessly hit the street.
I lay there for a moment, stunned by what I had just done, even more so by the lack of pain, before Nadia came over to me and knelt beside me.
"Are you okay? What the hell did you just do?"
I looked up at her and saw that there was a streak of soot across her face, and that she was holding...a H-11 plasma pistol? Where the hell did she get that? I heaved myself up, and noticed that I gripped the .357 so hard that my knuckles were white.
"I have no idea..." I muttered. Then I gasped as the first wave of pain hit me. I fell to my knees clutching my head as I tried to shut off my mental senses. You see, it wasn't my pain I was feeling, but rather every person who was dying's last second of anguish. I drew myself inward enough so I didn't hear the mental screams, and just kneeled there for a second, breathing. As Nadia started over towards me (the whjole thing had taken less than 10 seconds), I got up and waved her off. I stood there a second, just listening.
I heard distant weapons fire; a strange mixture of automatic weapons, small-arms, and the occasional laser shot, all mixed up with one another, coming in small, ragged bursts. I walked over to the pod, and saw that one of the figures was still moving, though obviously wounded. In fact, as I got closer, I saw that he was fatally wounded, a piece of shrapnel from Nadia's grenade had torn through his throat. Even as I approached, he took one last rattling breath and stopped breathing forever. I walked over and examined the inside of the pod. Aside from the harnesses and a few basic controls, it was just a metal shell with a set of braking rockets attached to the bottom. I climbed out and walked over to one of the armored soldier's corpses. I grabbed the soldier's rifle, and examined it. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Basically shaped like an old M-16, with a strange, slightly flared barrel, and an odd bulge where the magazine would have gone. I pointed it toward the road and fired a shot. Unlike the characteristic red or orange of a laser, or the green or dark purple of a plasma rifle, it shot a thin, blue beam of energy that instantly burned a hole in the pavement. I tossed it to Nadia.
"What do you think?"
She studied it intently for a second. "Maybe some kind of particle accelerator weapon? I don't know what the hell it is, but I've never seen it before."
I grabbed another of the strange weapons, just in time too. I had to jump back from the nearest corpse as the armor began to glow red, then melted into a pile of molten goo. I glanced at the other corpses, and saw that the same thing had happened to them. I tossed Nadia a quizzical glance.
She shrugged, "Some kind of self-destruct, maybe? I don't know, but what do we do now?"
I thought a moment as another huge explosion sounded off from farther in the city. I absently noticed that while the pods had stopped falling, small-arms fire continued to sound off across the city, punctuated by the occasional small explosion, which I took to be grenades or rockets. I looked toward Nadia. "Let's head back to my place, assuming its still standing. I have some gear there we can use." She nodded once, sharply, then followed me as I cautiously ran down the street, the strange rifle still held in my arms. We made it back to my apartment without any further incidents, although we almost had a shoot-out with some looters. My building, bless its little brick heart, was still standing, although a huge, ragged crack ran along one side of it. Rushing up the stairs, I didn't bother with using my key and just slammed the door open with my shoulder. I rushed in, checking to see if anyone was there, then walked over to a blank wall in the hallway leading to my room from the living room.
I tossed Nadia a half-hearted grin before saying, "Don't tell my landlord about this, he'd probably sue me." I tapped the wall in a rapid pattern, and a panel popped out. I pressed my hand against it, and it gave a small beep before retracting back into the wall. I waited a second, then gave Nadia a sheepish grin before pounding once hard on the wall. Another section of wall slid aside, and lo and behold, there was my arsenal. Weapons of all kinds hung from a metal peg-board, and two drawers beneath were filled with all the ammo that went with those beautiful instruments of death. I grinned at her look of astonishment, then made a sweeping arm gesture.
"After you." I said in a grandeur filled voice. While she was examining the various instruments of death I went into my room and came out with two sets of the standard infantry armor. The dull grey armor had a mottled camoflage suitable for city fighting, and while I knew it wouldn't stop the invader's weapons, it would be better than nothing. At least it would stop any shrapnel that we got hit with. I was glad that they were designed 'one-size-fits-all'. I tossed Nadia a set, which she gave an approving glance before she ran to my room and closed the door, and I heard a muffled 'shit' as she tripped while struggling to put it on. I slipped mine on and turned toward the wall.
I grabbed my favorite weapon, a PR-95. Basically an updated P-90, instead of chemically propelling a projectile it magnetically accelerates a 3mm solid piece of tungsten to a speed where it turns anything it impacts into so much paste. The ammos nigh impossible to get, but the results are worth every credit. I grabbed some clips for the weapon and slipped them into a special pouch on a gun belt, which I quickly put on after transferring my .357 to the holster (I never go anywhere without that gun. It was the first thing I really owned. I found it, corroded almost beyond repair, in the ruins of an old house just outside the Wall. I fixed it up, found some ammo for it, and I've had it ever since.). I grabbed some special armor piercing shells I had had specially made for it and filled the chambers, putting the remaining shells carefully in a pouch on the belt. I grabbed a bandolier which I proceeded to put a couple of frag grenades in. It had a curious little plate built into the part that went across my back that was for a very special weapon.
Nadia came out of my room wearing the armor, with her hair pulled back into a pony-tail. She grabbed a gun belt off the wall into which she proceeded to jam her plasma pistol. My earlier thought recrossed my mind, and I said, "So, where the hell were you hiding that? The pistol I mean. And that grenade?"
She gave me a strangely seductive grin. "Maybe later I'll show you..." She grabbed an A-24, a more powerful prototype version of the A-18 (The joys of being a WSR; you can get all sorts of cool shit.), off the wall and slammed a powerpack into it. She grabbed some more grenades and ammo, and then turned towards me.
"So, what now?"
I gave her a savage grin. "We go kick some ass."
On the way out I stopped by the living room wall, and almost reverently took the claymore off of it. She stopped and gave me an incredulous look when she saw me stick it to the plate on my back. I shrugged. "Hey, I never said it was just a wall decoration, did I? I made a few modifications, and now it will cut through just about anything, and it's strong as hell. I bribed one of the engineers who work on the new MR-15 battle tank to give it the same kind of molecular annealing that the armor has. It should stay sharp forever, and it's strong enough to cut through a 3 inch plate of steel like a hot knife through butter."
She sighed, "Boys with their toys..." I heard her mutter as she carefully looked out the door. I caught a faint thought that made me grin, however. *He looks so hot with that armor and that sword, like some kind of savage barbarian...oooh got to stop thinking about that...plenty of time for that later...*
My inspection of her thoughts was interrupted by a huge explosion that threw us both back against the far wall, and filled the apartment with a roaring flame...
Or rather, should have thrown us back against the wall and filled the apartment with a roaring flame.
I looked on with a kind of awe as I saw the wall of fire fill the room, and wash over us. It was like an invisible shield, perfectly spherical, was surrounding us. As the fire subsided, I realized that my arms were crossed in front of me, and that I felt a strange pressure on my mind. As the last flickers of the fireball faded, the shield dropped, and the strange pressure in my mind with it. Bracing myself, I waited for the intense pain that I knew would follow... but nothing happened.
I stood there a moment, thinking that it would all of a sudden come upon me, but there was nothing. No pain, no weariness, just...nothing.
*What the hell? First the street when that building blew up, and now this. Both times I must have used my powers, but there was no pain. What the hell is going on? Maybe... maybe it's because I didn't force it..?*
With that thought, I turned toward the door, still lying where I had knocked it down when I came in, and just, sort of coaxed it to move. It slowly slid toward me, and stopped at my feet. Bracing myself again for the expected pain, I closed my eyes and waited. Nothing again! *That must be it! I can't just force my powers to work, I have to, I don't know, will them, I guess... How fucking awesome!*
My thoughts were interrupted by Nadia throwing me a puzzled look as she sprinted past me to the doorway, where she cautiously looked around the frame.
She let out a yelp as an armored gauntlet reached around and narrowly missed her throat. Before she could do anything, I whipped the claymore off my back and simply threw it, guiding it mentally toward the figure I sensed behind the wall. With its speed barely slowed by the wall, the blade pierced the invader's armor with a shrill screech. I felt the invader's surprise just a split second before he died. Running over to the wall, I grabbed the hilt and tugged it back through, the blade making another, though quieter, screech as it slid out of the invader. I heard a muffled thump as the invader's corpse fell, and a noisy clatter as it rolled down the stairs, coming to a clanking thud at the bottom.
I grinned at Nadia before putting the claymore back on its holder. She tossed me a shaky smile before following me out the door. I ran down the steps and took a position against the wall, peering around the corner. Not seeing or sensing anyone, I turned toward Nadia.
"So, where to?"
She shrugged. "3C?"
I returned her shrug. "Good a place as any."
I went around the corner, Nadia following me closely, both of us with our weapons up and ready. The 3C, a nickname for the Alliance of the Northern Cities Command and Control Center, was a dull, uninteresting building roughly in the middle of New DC. Inside this unimportant looking structure was the heart of the ANC's military might. There are actually two Command and Control Centers, but the other one just acts as a decoy. The real one is mostly underground, with the building above acting as another form of camouflage. Ten stories underground, in a concrete, steel reinforced complex is the ANC's version of the Pentagon and NORAD, all wrapped up into one impressive structure. The 3C is the most secure military facility in the ANC, and I was confident that it was still standing. Well, mostly confident.
We cautiously worked our way through the city, detouring around blown apart buildings and the occasional roaring fire. After about thirty minutes of this, I was starting to get nervous.
"Where the hell is everybody?" I whispered to Nadia as we rested in the shadow of an office building. No one was moving in the streets. No civilians, no DF, not even any of the invaders.
She shrugged, keeping her rifle up and sweeping it across the dark, deserted street. "I don't know, you're the psychic, remember?"
I shot her a glare and she shrugged. We turned the corner---
---and ran into an ambush.
I grabbed Nadia by the shoulder and roughly yanked her back around the corner a split second before no less than twenty of the odd blue shots pierced the air where she had been standing. She gave me a shaky nod of thanks before I turned back towards the ambush. I cast my mind out, intending to get a glimpse of their plan---
---and was instantly seized with a spike of intense pain. It was as if someone had driven a white-hot nail deep into my brain. I staggered, and almost fell on the street. Mentally gathering all the strength I could, I kind of heaved the intruder out of my mind. As I stood there, leaning against the wall and gasping, I heard a hoarse shout of pain come from around the corner.
Still leaning against the wall, I cautiously poked my head around the corner---and almost got it blown off. My pre-cog warned me at the last minute (It had been unusually coorporative today. Usually, it hardly ever works.) The brief glimpse I had gotten had showed almost two dozen of the invaders scattered along the street, behind whatever cover they could find. Farther back I had seen a new kind of invader, this one in pure white armor with black trim. The figure had been on the ground, writhing in obvious pain. Hah, served the bastard right to... Then it hit me. They had a psychic of their own! Luckily, he (Obviously a male, that much I had picked up.) was either weaker than me or had just not expected any resistance.
I turned to Nadia. "Ok, here's---crap."
Suddenly, the air was filled with a roaring sound as a huge explosion from around the corner cracked the building we were hiding behind, and I looked up and watched with horror as the sky rise above us fragmented and tumbled down towards us...
2 minutes earlier...
Simon peered through the night scope on his rifle, methodically scanning the city. Since the attack began, after a short and confusing flight, he had found himself on the roof of the Chrysalis Building, one of the largest skyscrapers in New DC. When he had heard the reports of hostiles landing, he had ran to the edge and laid down, and had shot at any target opportunity presented. Now he was down to his last three rounds, having wasted almost half of his ammunition before learning of the invader's weakness. A direct hit to a seal or helmet lense on their armor would put them down quickly, and permanently, as their self-destruct feature would destroy their armor if they even fell unconscious. Simon had heard the screams of one of the soldiers as he had been burned alive after being knocked unconscious for a moment.
Taking his eye away from the scope, he looked across the darkened city-scape, lit only by the occasional roaring fire that ate away at some of the buildings. It had been almost ten minutes since he had noticed any weapons fire, and he was starting to believe that the invaders had all been killed or at least driven off.
A series of blue flashes in the corner of his eye caused him to swing around, and sight down at their source. He looked just in time to see...Reader? Reader poked his head around the corner and was gone almost as quickly, moving with that unnerving grace that his pre-cognition gave him, before rifle fire flashed through the air where his head had been. Simon looked through his scope farther along the street, toward the source of those flashes, and saw a least ten of the invaders crouched in the street, among them a strange, white-armored figure that appeared to be writhing in pain on the ground. Thinking quickly, bearing in mind the fact that he only had three rounds left, he noticed a fuel truck a little farther down the street from the invaders. Checking the label through his scope, he inadvertently grinned when he saw that it was carrying liquid oxygen. Taking a breath and letting it out slowly, he aimed at the spout on the side with Warning! labels pasted all over it. Simon took another breath before firing his last three shots in quick succession, using his ability to guide the projectiles on their journey. The first two ripped the spout and a good amount of the metal tank around it apart, and with an inhumanly fast thought Simon guided the last projectile to strike a piece of metal just so---
The huge explosion literally rocked the building he was on, and burnt out his night scope with its intensity. He could actually see the shock wave spreading out from the explosion. To his horror, Simon realized his mistake when he saw the buildings next to the explosion blow apart, the one closest to where Reader had been disintegrating into a hundred deadly shards...
I stared up at the falling fragments, knowing that there was no way we could survive this. Everything was moving oddly slowly, and I heard the beginning of a yell come from Nadia. I looked over at her, moving normally while everything else moved at the odd, slow pace. I looked at her for a moment before turning towards the rapidly approaching debris. I knew I should feel fear, but instead I felt...calm. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of the cool night air. I opened my eyes again, and I saw. I saw everything: the falling debris, Nadia standing there, the burning fires across the city. I felt everything: the scared, lonely presence of a DF soldier as he tried to find the rest of his squad, Simon on the roof of the Chrysalis Building, and everyone and everything else in the city. It was overwhelming, and at the same time invigorating. I felt a strange power rise up within me. It quickly grew, growing, building until I knew I could not contain it any more. Looking up at the debris falling towards us, distantly noting that they had barely seemed to grow any larger, I simply pushed with my mind. They slowed, almost seeming to shiver as they stopped, floating motionless in the air. With an almost casual flick of my mind, I sent the deadly shards of steel and glass flying away from us, over into the deserted street. They crashed down, and I felt a wave of astonishment flow from the various people that had seen my act. Time slowly seemed to return to normal as I turned once again towards Nadia. I felt her fear and worry, and I saw myself through her eyes.
A strange, crackling, yellow aura surrounded me, seeming to almost twist reality where it touched. My muscles were stretched taunt, every one of them tightened almost painfully. The strangest thing, however, was my eyes. They were bone white. No pupil, no trace of my normal hazel color. Just a glaring white abyss. I saw myself begin to change as the power faded. My muscles relaxed, the aura faded, but my eyes stayed the same for such a long moment that I thought they would remain as they were. They finally, almost reluctantly, changed color, bringing my normal eyes back into the world. I let out a shaky grin as I looked at Nadia, and took one step forward...then passed out...