--------------
Veteran’s Memorial Park, Canyon Pointe, State of Mojave, The week before Christmas
Aisha Franklin-Garcia, the superhero known publicly as the Ghost Owl, winced as the talons of the creature she fought tore through her uniform, and worse into the skin of her thigh. Her hero togs were made out of material stronger and suppler than Kevlar, and her skin was damn near invulnerable. It meant the thing was as strong as her. Not to mention, the cuts burned like hell.
She punched at what appeared to be the creature’s head. Her fist went through the head as if it had phased its molecules like fellow superhero Shadowstar. But when she tried to pull back, her arm was stuck inside the creature.
Fine. Let’s see how it handles supersonic speed. She flew straight up, dragging the creature with her. Her predecessor as the Ghost Owl had literally designed a variation of her suit for NASA. The repair systems had already ejected sealant along the rips, so she wouldn’t have any issues as the atmosphere thinned. For all her powers, she still needed to breathe. The heads up display inside her helmet ticked off the altitude.
Something squeezed her chest. She looked down to find the creature’s talons had disappeared. Tentacles had wrapped themselves around her body. Okay, maybe she did need to worry about breathing.
She flew even faster. This dang thing clinging to her body had to have some kind of oxygen or temperature limit. Above her, the sky darkened to deep blue as the atmosphere thinned.
At twenty miles above the earth’s surface, the creature’s tentacles loosened. Its entire body phased, and her arm slipped free of its head. The thing may be able to change its density, but gravity was still queen. It plummeted. Aisha dove after it.
Plasma flickered around the creature’s body and Aisha’s visor. The creature fell towards a thunderstorm developing east of Canyon Pointe. While Aisha’s foe probably wouldn’t hit anybody in the state park on the other side of Lake Del Oro from the city, she couldn’t take the chance. Once again, she poured on speed. Static built along her suit in the unstable atmosphere.
Lightning erupted between her and the clouds below. Her suit was insulated from the electrical surge, but the bolt of lightning nailed the falling creature.
Aisha grinned to herself as the thing disintegrated in the one-point-twenty-one gigawatts of Mother Nature’s power. One down. She needed to get back to Canyon Pointe. She headed west and flew as fast as she could. No doubt complaints would be filed with the city, county, and state governments for the sonic booms in her wake.
In Veterans’ Memorial Park, the Canyon Park police were trying to clear the area of civilians who were still on their feet. EMTs attempted to treat and evacuate the people who had been mauled by these things. It was up to Aisha to keep these creatures occupied and away from the population of the city until backup came.
Relief spread through her when Sparx’s voice crackled through the speakers in Aisha’s helmet. “What the hell are these things?”
“You got me,” Aisha replied. “Don’t let them get near you. I just got raked by their claws. But the one I dealt with didn’t like lightning much.” She grabbed a couple of kids hiding behind a tree and delivered them to waiting officers without a word.
“Roger that.” Sparx’s crisp answer was almost drowned out by Nix’s sonic shriek.
“Think Doctor Triassic has been experimenting?” Aisha asked. “These things have a reptilian look, but they definitely aren’t cold-blooded.”
“Don’t know, but whatever they are, they smell worse than the snake exhibit at the zoo,” Sparx said.
Aisha’s Ghost Owl suit had been designed by her predecessor to filter out toxins when she breathing in normal earth atmosphere, so she didn’t get a hint of whatever odor Sparx picked up.
“Guys, they don’t like water either,” Nix said. “I knocked one into the fountain, and I think it died.”
Aisha’s visor darkened as Sparx cut loose on a third creature now that the park was clear of civilians.
“How many are left?” Sparx asked.
Aisha rose a few feet above the grass and spun to scan the area. “I see two more by the pin oak grove.” She flew in that direction.
And was horrified to see a civilian lying on the ground between the pair of creatures.
“Sparx!”
“Right behind you. You kick them away from the guy, and I’ll blast them.”
Aisha was fast enough the creatures didn’t have a chance to phase. She literally kicked the one on the right straight up into the air, tearing out a great deal of green foliage as it arrowed skyward. Lightning flashed behind her. She reached for the other one, but it sliced its talons across the throat of the unconscious young man laying beneath the tree. A weird chittering cough sound erupted from the creature as she grabbed what appeared to be its throat.
Her suit’s radiation alarms blared for a second before all the suit systems died. Aisha squinted at the blinding surge of blue and white light. The only thing she knew for sure was that she and the creature were falling, tumbling through empty space with no idea of which way was up.
No comments:
Post a Comment