Earth Takes a Stand
Chapter Five: Assault on the Physics Lab
by Anonymous
Aurora came back to Hawaii unsure of what to think of the self-proclaimed
immigration officer. He obviously had Earth's best intentions in mind,
but then again so did she, and they conflicted with each other. He was
powerful, there was no contesting that fact, but he'd only been actually
hit once so it was hard to gauge just how tough he was. He had a level
of technology that no civilian should have access to, but he didn't seem
to be working for any government.
Aurora was certain that if he had the chance, he'd be kicking Arion butt
all over the place too, but as it stood the Arions generally used guile
and under-the-surface conspiracy rather than outright battle, so they
were much harder to find than she was. Still, he had been extremely
effective against the Arion back at the studio... but that could have
been because he underestimated the man in armor.
That was one more paradox about him. He obviously was a man in
the armor, but he took pains not to show it. When he was out there,
doing what it is he did, he was no longer a human being, rather a
machine. A machine with only one purpose and she didn't much like it.
Maybe, Aurora thought, she should try to reason with him. Maybe he could
be swayed to her side. "Heh, my side. Right now my side consists of me,
Laura, Chris, and a military Black Ops division with a few weapons. And
we're supposed to stop an Arion invation. We really could use all the
help we can get."
*
Back at the house, Chris and Laura were worried sick. "We saw you on TV,
in the studio! Did you stick around? Did you see what he could
do? That Arion Prime didn't have a clue what was comming until it
was too late!"
"I saw the whole thing, Chris," Farichild replied. "He's strong, yes,
but confused. He doesn't know the whole story. I was just thinking.
He's on our side, he just doesn't know it yet."
"What!?"
"Well, he's trying to eliminate what he sees as an alien menace to the
planet. He's trying to save hundreds of lives. That's what we're doing,
isn't it? He just doesn't see us as the 'good guys,' and I can actually
see that from his point of view."
"Well..."
"Let me finish. If we can talk to him, get him to see things our way,
tell him about the Arions like I was going to the first time I saw him..."
Chris and Laura exchanged a brief glance. Chris spoke first. "Hold it,
pause, cease fire, stop... you mean you met him already?"
Fairchild realized that even though it was hours ago, she hadn't been in
contact with Chris or Laura since she met the armored one. "Oh, right!
I haven't spoken to you since then, have I? While we were out looking
for him, I actually found him. Well, he found me. We faced off in the
street for a few minutes, he told me I had 24 hours to leave the planet
or else. And in no uncertain terms. He shot at me, I hit him
back, and it was over. He was okay, but flew off as soon as he picked
himself up. He's tough, I didn't expect him to be able to get up after I
hit him.
"Anyway, I helped clean up the place after the fight, and then I was
ready to come back here when I found out he'd be on a talk show. So I
vamped some poor guy out of his seat and saw the whole thing after the
crowd left. I can't belive he nearly started a riot!"
Chris looked even more confused. "You couldn't have seen him when we
went out, I saw him. He hit Laura from behind when she was fighting
another one of those walking cars, Laura, show her your burn."
Laura took off her shirt, exposing her perfectly formed breasts to the
room. Her tiny waist looked so out of proportion to them, but somehow
incredibly sexy as well. Chris couldn't help but admire her again. When
she turned around, Fairchild gasped.
"Wow, that must hurt! What did that to you?"
Laura replied, "I don't know, like Chris said, I was hit from behind. I
never even saw the guy. Look, I'm getting tired of calling him 'the guy
in the armor.' Let's just call him Bob or something. Anyway, I was
looking around the scrap metal yards like we agreed, and I came across
another one of those walking cars."
"Wait, there are three?"
"No no no, this is the same one Chris mentioned. There are only two as
far as we know. Anyway, it let out that roar, and started shooting at
me. Damn that hurts! But then I got hit from behind with something and
lost it for a second, then it stepped on me and I blacked out. Chris,
that's when you came in."
Chris continued. "Right, I found 'Bob' doing something to Laura, and
later we found a kind of rash on her breast. As soon as he saw me, he
told the car to attack me too, and then took off in a big hurry. I don't
know where he went, but apparently it was more important than helping the
car kill me.
"Anyway, as soon as it started to roar, I ducked behind some scrap. I
managed to get around behind it and destroyed it with a peice of
I-beam." He smirked at Laura. "Never even touched me.
"The thing that gets me is, the car didn't even seem to pay attention to
me until 'Bob' told it specifically to attack. He wasn't even there when
it attacked you two, or you would have noticed him."
Fairchild thought about the whole situation for a minute. "Okay, so
there might be two of him, or maybe he got some kind of signal from the
car that said it was attacking Laura and he flew over. I don't think
there are two of him. That armor probably costs a fortune.
"Maybe, maybe not." Laura looked concerned. Her back still hurt, and
most of what was going on didn't make any sense yet. "We'd better be
ready for him to reject our offer."
"By the way, Chris, how did you wind up at the scrap yard if you were
going to check out the particle physics lab?" Fairchild thought she'd
get one more thing cleared up.
"Well, I didn't find out anything useful there, except that there were
some personal projects going on that the guy I talked to wasn't at
liberty to tell me about. I think the whole thing could come together if
we found out about what was going on there."
*
A day later...
*
The armored figure, recently christened "Bob" by Laura for lack of a
better name, streaked across the midday sky far offshore from Los
Angeles. At Mach 1.5, the engines cut, and were silent for a moment.
Then the ramjets kicked in, quickly accelerating him to Mach 2, then 2.5,
finally reaching a top speed of just under Mach 3.
Bob was pleased with his design. The armor's wings were a work of genius
if he did say so himself, and he did. The armor didn't have room for
large, clunky engines so they were built flat up against the wing. The
same nuclear power that provided electricity for the suit was vented
through the engines to provide thrust for a short period of time, and
then the ramjets kicked in. The ramjets were actually inside of
the wings, so they remained out of the way just like the main engines.
Today's test was to see just how fast those ramjets could get him
moving. He was pleased.
Inside of the helmet was a large screen which relayed all sorts of useful
information to the pilot. Normal camera view, thermal view, ammunition
remaining, nuclear battery charge, and a host of other gadgets and
options were available at a glance. Currently, the screen read WARNING:
RADAR LOCK ESTABLISHED.
Glancing behind him, Bob saw what looked like a heavily modified F-14
fighter following him. Most significant was that it only had one pilot.
Still unaccustomed to things that come naturally
to real super-powered beings such as the Velorians, he had forgotten that
traveling faster than the speed of sound meant that he could not hear
anything that might be following him. Judging by the fact that he now
had a radar lock on him, he decided that the jet was hostile and had been
following him for a good while.
Bob turned a sharp barrel roll and avoided a barrage of .20 caliber slugs
fired from the F-14's chaingun. His radio was in perfect working order,
which meant that the pilot had no intention of talking to him,
threatening him, or otherwise offering some way to avoid conflict. This
was no military plane, he decided. The only other group with enough
money to attack him with jets would be the Arions.
*
Bacstin was an Arion Beta under the command of Garritan. Frankly, she
was glad the fool was dead. Bacstin was doing quite well for herself,
considering her Beta heritage. She was assigned to Earth, she was a
pilot, and she wasn't dead yet. Life was pretty cheap if you were an
Arion Beta. The Primes were mostly a bunch of arrogant shitheads,
although she would never say so out loud, especially Garritan. She never
liked Garritan, no one subordinate to him did. It wasn't that he was a
bad leader, it was just that he didn't do anything. He just
showed up at the right times in the right places, was buddy-buddy with
his superiors, and got promoted faster than anyone ever should have been.
Bacstin would rather be thanking Bob than firing missiles at him, but
that was what she was assigned to do. To refuse meant death. Briefly,
she wondered if she should open her radio channels to thank him anyway,
but decided she didn't want to risk being overheard.
Bacstin had a radar lock on Bob for a bit now, and saw that he was too
maneuverable for the chaingun. "Nothing to do now but launch missiles."
She held her breath as she pulled the trigger, sending a Sidewinder
streaking toward the figure in front of her.
She let out that breath almost all at once as she saw a bright red laser
stream out from his wrist, slicing through the missile's head. The
delicate electronics inside were fused, melted, and/or sliced to the
point of uselessness, and the missile continued forward unguided and
destined never to explode. Splashdown occurred some time later when it
ran out of fuel, and it sank to the bottom of the Pacific.
*
Meanwhile, Bob had been studying the craft following him. He knew
practically nothing about military aircraft, but he knew mechanical
design better than most other people on the planet. He could see that
the jet was sturdy but sluggish from it's build. It was more or less a
flying missile rack. Of course, its top speed couldn't possibly be
determined so he didn't know if he could outrun it. His best bet would
be to try to outmaneuver it, but destroying it was another problem.
While it was true that he had a number of powerful weapons, they were
small. His laser was no more than a quarter inch in diameter, for
example. It would take too long to cut a significant portion off of the
jet with it. A physical assault might be more effective.
*
Bacstin let another barrage of chaingun fire fly just in time to see Bob
pull into a sharp climb and a left turn. She attempted to follow, but
her bulky jet simply couldn't turn that quickly. Then, she lost him in
the sun. That was okay, she still had her radar, and according to said
instrument, Bob was 15 feet directly above her.
Bacstin glanced up to see the claws of the armor launch from the arms,
trailing a cable each. Two loud clanks sounded as the steely claws bit
into the fuselage of the plane, and Bob began to reel himself in.
Panicking, Bacstin tried in vain to pull away by kicking in the
afterburners, but the claws held fast. Bob was on top of the plane now,
slowly clawing his way toward the canopy. Bacstin had no idea what to
do, this was not covered in dogfight training! The afterburners didn't
shake him off, she tried barrel rolls, steep dives, loops, nothing could
loosen his grip.
Despite her best efforts, Bob had reached the cockpit. With one smooth
motion, he tore the canopy off, sending metal and glass shrapnel flying
into the nearly Mach speed winds. Bacstin's pressurized pilot suit
inflated to protect her from the high altitude as the cockpit
depressurized and the roar of the wind nearly deafened her. Without her
mask she would never have been able to breathe. She turned toward him as
well as she could while strapped into her chair, drew her pistol, and
unloaded the clip into the armor in vain. Her options exhausted, she
ejected several miles offshore, over the Pacific ocean.
After her parachute opened, she saw Bob climb down the side of the plane
and slice one of the missiles off with his laser. Cradling it in one
arm, he tore off a piece of the fuselage and threw it into the engine.
The engine burst into flame as it was rendered useless, and the
unbalanced power from the other engine sent the plane spiraling into the
ocean below. Bob circled overhead to watch his handiwork, then flew off
with his prize.
And then Bacstin was alone. She would stay afloat surely enough, but had
no food or fresh water. Plus the danger of sharks. For two miles in
every direction she saw nothing but calm ocean. She wondered what it
would be like to get caught in a storm with her head not more than a foot
over the water.
*
High above the Earth in an orbiting Arion controlled base, a darkly cloaked
figure was not amused. This was two soldiers he had lost to this Terran. Such
losses to a Velorian were acceptable, but to a mere Terran they were
unthinkable. This would not look good to his superiors, the Arions. It was
time he swallowed his pride, and stopped underestimating his opponents.
*
The following afternoon, Aurora was back in L.A. She couldn't let a
little armor-clad extremist scare her off; after all, lots of people were
trying to kill her. She was almost used to it by now.
She'd heard rumors of Arion activity somewhere near the outskirts of
L.A. A few Kintzi warriors and an Arion Prime or two were apparently
planning something big, and she had to see that it never went into
effect. Unfortunately, she was delayed a bit in mid-flight by a small
floating orb that went click.
"Not you again!" She recognized it immediately as one of the scrap-metal
machines that Bob had working for him. Still floating a few hundred feet
in the air, she found herself yelling at it. "Can't you see that I have
work to do on your planet?" She still wasn't sure if the orbs relayed
what she was saying to Bob or not, but it was a good way to vent
frustration. "Look, I'm going to check out a report of some Kintzi
warriors around here, and I can't get into a fight with you. I'm busy!"
click
"And stop that damn clicking! If I wasn't here the Arions would sweep
over the planet and claim it as their own. Is that what you want?"
click
"That's it, get over here you little..." Aurora made a swing at the orb
but it ducked out of the way. It zipped away at about a 90 degree angle
from where she was headed. Ever a slave to her emotions, Aurora followed
it.
The last time Aurora had tried to follow one of the orbs, she almost lost
it because it used the city buildings as a maze, ducking and weaving.
This time, however, there was nothing but open air and countryside
between the two of them. She quickly caught up to it, and, still flying
absentmindedly forward, crushed it into a small metal cube.
Just as Aurora was about to head back to try to find the Kintzi, she
heard a very familiar booming loudspeaker. "Aurora, I know you were in
the studio when I was fighting that alien. What were you doing? Hoping
he would kill me I suppose. I thought you were mortal enemies with the
Arions. Or is that one of your lies?"
Aurora turned and, just as expected, saw the armored figure of Bob flying
toward her. Wings spread wide with twin blue jets streaking out from
behind him, thick claws at the end of his three-fingered hands and
glaring at her with deeply slanted eyes, he looked like some kind of
demon from Hell sent to destroy her. "I just wanted to know what you can
do. That's what this is all about, isn't it? What I can do, what you
can do to stop me? That's the one big advantage you have, you know me
but I don't know you."
Bob began to circle her as he flew, unable to hover as she could. "You
know I have enough power to kill you. I was able to kill that Arion. If
you don't back down now, I'll use every ounce of power in this suit to
destroy you."
He was deadly serious. His tone, his body language, everything about him
backed up what he said. And this time, on the outskirts of L.A., there
was no crowd of people either of them had to worry about hurting. There
would be no shattered convenience store wall to clean up afterward. It
was between her and the armor. "I've killed Arions too you know. I've
vaporized your little orbs with my heat vision. I destroyed one of your
cute walking cars. I threw you through a convenience store with a single
punch. Your machine gun didn't even bruise me. I don't think you
realize what you're up against, buddy!" To illustrate her point, Aurora
flexed her powerful muscles, bringing her slender arms to massive,
incredibly cut and toned proportions.
"I'm up against an alien FREAK, a being so powerful it sees itself as
some kind of god walking among the weak and frail! Human beings are no
longer going to be cannon fodder in your personal little war, Aurora!
Today I make my stand!!"
Aurora twisted out of the way just in time to avoid a hail of machine gun
fire. The two were still high in the air, but Bob had finished his
circling and was now in full-fledged attack! He grabbed her around the
waist at an odd angle because of the twisting she had just done, and
before she could get her bearings back he had bodyslammed her into the
hard earth below them. At the speeds they were traveling, she dug a
trench in the ground with her back 20 feet long and 3 feet at it's
deepest point.
"Get off of me!" Aurora threw the Terran several feet in the air, and he
landed sprawled a good distance away. She was caught by surprise how
heavy the armor was, while three tons was practically nothing to a
Velorian, eight feet of hollow metal shouldn't weigh that much.
They both stood up simultaneously, Bob folding his wings back to save
himself some room to move more easily. The circled like two wrestlers,
each looking for an opening. Finally, Aurora lunged forward and they
locked hand-to-claw in a contest of sheer strength.
At first, Aurora seemed to have the upper hand as she heard gears and
hydraulics whining under the strain. Her entire body exploded into
enourmous steely muscles as she threw everything she had into her effort.
Bob's feet dug furrows in the
ground as he was forced backwards by her strength backed up by her flying
power. His metallic arms were slowly being forced back by her massive
Velorian arms, even though the armor was significantly taller than she
was.
Aurora was awestruck. She should have been crushing the metallic arms
under her grip, forcing the armor backward and onto the ground. She
should have been easily winning this contest but instead she was only
slowly gaining ground, even though she was applying her full might! "How
the hell are you still standing?"
"Impressed? I thought you would be." His voice was calm, not strained
in the least. After all, it was the armor doing the work. "You've
probably never had to deal with Terran technology like this before. No
one has. This is by far the strongest metal on the planet, it was
designed for fusion reactions. I was hoping it could stand up to you.
It's about time someone did.
The only thing that has ever held back the strength of a machine is the
quality of the metal. The only reason no one has ever designed a peice
of equipment this strong is because the steel would buckle and break
under its own strain. Now that I have this carbo-metallic suit, that is
no longer a concern. I'm almost as strong as you are, Aurora, but
there's no way you can stand up to a machine with anything near your
power!"
It was true that not even a Velorian Protector can continue to apply her
full strength forever.
After a moment, she felt the first pangs of fatigue begin to show
themselves in her enormous biceps. The strain was incredible, she had
never seen a Terran machine apply this kind of power before! And why
wasn't the metal buckling and tearing like he said? She could even crush an
Arion Prime's fist with her grip! What is carbo-metal, and how could it
be so strong?
Of course, a machine didn't feel fatigue. A machine didn't get tired or
lose it's resolve. As long as it had fuel, a machine could continue to
work forever. And even though there was a man inside this machine, the
machine was providing the power. Aurora felt her wrists begin to give,
her arms were burning with the strain, her teeth were clenched and her
eyes reduced to a narrow squint. She wondered how much longer the metal
suit would hold out against her incredible might, and if her arms would
give out first. Even though she was still forcing the amor back she was
wearing herself out doing it!
"What? Slow down, I can't hear you Steve. What do they look like?"
Aurora looked up, there was no one around. Obviously, Bob had a radio in
his helmet, but it looked like he was simply talking to himself. "I'm
battling the Velorian right now, couldn't they have waited? I'll be
there as soon as I can, just back up the PCH's as well as you can, and
don't get killed! I need you, Steve."
"Something's come up, Aurora. I have to go. Here, play with this for a
while." Bob relaxed his grip, and the tension quickly drained out of
Aurora's arms. In the distance, she saw what looked like a Sidewinder
missile with extra-large wings heading straight for her. "I got this off
an Arion fighter jet the other day. I hope you like the additions I put
on it, remember this, Aurora, everything can be improved!" Aurora flew
straight up to avoid the missile, but with the extra large wings it was
able to make a quick half-loop and go after her again.
"Shit, it's homing in on me!" Aurora sped off, trying to outrun the
missile, then realized that would be a bad idea. Where would it land
when it ran out of fuel? She had to find some way to stop it safely.
Staying a safe distance in front of it, she tried to outmaneuver it,
taking quick dives toward the ground or trees and pulling away at the
last second, but the missile didn't seem to want to get too close to
anything that wasn't Velorian. "Scratch that idea. It's following me
like it's actually got a brain."
Then she realized that it looked like a miniature jet, and like any jet,
would stall if it tried to climb too steeply. She rocketed straight up
into the sky, keeping a close eye on the missile. Eventually, it slowed
it's ascent, and began to tumble backwards and fall. Aurora dove for the
missile, catching it by the wing. A few quick spins and she sent it
hurtling toward the ground with such force that it's engine couldn't
possibly have been able to regain control. It exploded on impact with
the ground, sending a shower of dirt and rocks in all directions, and all
that remained was a crater and some scrap.
Taking a quick glance around, she realized that she hadn't been paying
much attention to anything but the immediate threat. Bob was long gone.
She knew where he went though, and hurried off in the direction of the
high-energy particle physics lab.
It didn't take a genius to guess what was going on. Aurora had suspected
that there was something related to this situation at the high-energy
particle physics lab the whole time. The energy weapons Bob used were
most likely designed there, one of the "personal projects" that the
technician had mentioned to Chris. Now it seems the Arions had figured
that out too, and were out to cut off Bob's supply at the source.
Ironic, that was what she was here to stop from happening before Bob
stopped her...
*
Steve, meanwhile, was in a state of absolute panic. He had managed to
talk his way out of two situations with people prying into his
involvement with Raymond, but this was an all-out attack. Three cat-like
beings and two human-looking ones were making a direct assault on the
physics lab. He had just managed to get the two Pheromone Chemical
Hunters activated before it was too late. One of the cat-like beings was
down, badly burned by a simultaneous assault by the two PCH's. The
terrible scream that Raymond had digitized into what had been their
stereo systems startled the cat-things for a moment, and the first one
was caught completely off guard in a stream of ionic energy. The other
four attackers had taken cover behind a few parked cars and concrete
barriers and were firing back now. One PCH was almost destroyed but was
still fighting like it was new. Raymond sure knew how to design these
things.
However, that was small consolation to the fact that there were only two
PCH's and four attackers powerful enough to destroy them before long. If
Raymond didn't get here soon, it would all be over. Steve pulled himself
together and got the laser rifle he had designed from his lab. He rushed
outside to try to join the fight, and try to prolong the conflict until
Raymond could get there.
Steve made it outside just in time to see one of the PCH's burst into
flame and topple over. If the attackers figured out that they could just
take out the legs this would be over before anyone knew it. A laser
rifle has no kick, and is incredibly accurate. He fired a few shots at
the parked cars they were hiding behind, and managed to ignite the fuel
tank. It didn't look like it would actually explode, but the smoke and
fire might give them some extra time.
Steve was starting to hate time. With a little more time his wife might
still have her arm and her hearing. With a little more time Raymond
could have had a few more Pheromone Chemical Hunters guarding the lab.
With a little more time Raymond would be here to stop all of this and
save him. Why there never enough time!?
Steve heard a low growl behind him. He froze for a second, and turned.
Not 50 feet away was one of the cat-things! It had snuck around the
fight and was crouched to attack him! He dropped the rifle and rushed back
inside the
lab and slammed the door. Gasping for breath, he searched desperately
for a place to hide as he heard the door tear from it's hinges.
Steve ducked into the particle accelerator laboratory and turned on all
the machines he could reach. Robotics, computers, monitors, and the
accelerator ring itself sprang to life, causing a great deal of noise and
motion. It would be a much easier environment to hide out in. He ducked
behind some machinery and prayed.
*
For a Kintzi, the hunt is the most exhilarating part of life. It makes
them feel alive. The only thing second to the hunt is the kill. Sex
comes in a close third, followed by sleeping. Under their Arion
leadership, they were never given enough opportunities to hunt and
destroy their prey, they mainly attacked as in battle. When this Kintzi
discovered his chance to hunt down Steve, she took it and was planning on
milking it for all it was worth.
Unfortunately, humans are no challenge to hunt. They are weak, frail
creatures. One bite could easily sever the head from the body, and they
smelled strongly of cologne and and perfume. They made a great deal of
noise when they walked, and they breathed hard when they ran. They can't
even run for all that long before they drop from exhaustion. The pride
is minimal when one is caught, but it is still there.
Steve was posing a bit more of a challenge then your typical human. He
didn't wear cologne or aftershave, he knew that he was being hunted, and
he managed to create a few distractions. Flashing lights, movement in
peripheral vision, and a bit of noise distracted the Kintzi from her
hunt, but it was just a matter of time before she found Steve. There
weren't that many places to hide in here. How she wished she could
dismantle the place! Smashing all this equipment would make it so much
easier, but the Arions wanted the lab intact.
The Kintzi slowly turned a corner and saw Steve, across the room,
sweating and cowering, crouched in a corner between some machinery and a
wall. "Stay away! Stay away from me! Don't come any closer!" A grin
came across the Kintzi's lips as she heard him plead for mercy. She felt
a tingle all over her body as she realized that this human was completely
helpless, no weapons, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and nothing around
but her and her victim.
She was starting to get turned on by the prospect. She had never felt
this way from a hunt before, probably because it was over before she
could think about it too much. This time, however, her prey was within
easy reach and she could take her time. The more she thought about it,
the more it turned her on. A wide, sinister grin came over her as a new
thought entered her mind: She would have this human before she would
kill him.
For most Kintzi, this was unthinkable. Terrans and other humanoids were
hairless, ugly creatures. Fun to hunt but that was where their
fascination ended. This Kintzi was different somehow. She thought that
humanoids had a sort of grace to them, their bodies very visible without
fur covering them. Or maybe it was the social taboo that excited her,
forbidden fruit always tasted sweeter to her. Regardless, she was about
to do something few Kintzi would even think about, and none would admit.
She approached Steve slowly, and heard him whimper with every step
closer. By the time she got to him, he was all but paralyzed with fear.
She opened her mouth, baring her fangs, but instead of biting down on his
neck, killing him instantly, she licked the side of his face, savoring
the flavor that she knew would be hers once the pleasure that would be
hers was over. She lowered a razor-sharp claw over his chest, slicing
his shirt down the front. Every movement she made created another
helpless whimper in Steve's throat.
Slowly, the Kintzi lowered herself across Steve's body. Gently, she
didn't want to hurt him yet, she took his right leg between hers, and
pressed her sex against him. The slight friction mixed with the feeling
of absolute power was incredible. This human would be hers in every
way. She emitted a low growl, similar to the one she used when she was
about to give chase, as she pleasured herself against him, rocking back
and forth across Steve's thigh.
In spite of himself, Steve now had an erection. This Kintzi was using
him to please herself and that meant that he got to stay alive a little
longer. He was scared out of his wits, any second and without warning
the Kintzi could kill him, and eventually would. And there was nothing
he could do about it.
The Kintzi felt the heat from Steve's groin, and knew that it
was time. She sliced his pants to ribbons with her claws, accidentally
cutting a bit into one of his legs. She lowered her head to his thigh
and licked up the blood. The taste was driving her wild with desire,
both to have him and to kill him. She could stand it no longer, she had
to have him inside of her!
Steve felt her cat-like sandpaper tongue brush roughly across his thigh
and it only made things worse for him. A mixture of pleasure, pain, and
fear gripped him like it had no other time in his life. His body was in
pain, he mind was paralyzed by fear, and his cock was fully erect and
waiting for the pleasure to continue in the only way it knew how. Above
all, Steve knew that he would not be able to survive intimacy with this
Kintzi. He knew that once these aliens lost themselves in sensual
abandon, they did not recover, and should their partner be weaker then
they were, well, everyone knew the consequences by now.
Steve's eyes were shut at this point, he felt each of her six nipples
press sharply against his chest and stomach. There was no doubt in his
mind that this would be the end of him, a toy of this creature that was
so much more powerful than he was, only to be discarded. He suddenly,
truly, understood what his wife must have felt like when she was part of
the horror of the battle in Colorado.
A sound like a gun going off shattered the silence. The Kintzi made a
cat-like "rowr" in surprise as she was quickly and violently pulled away
from her prey. Steve opened his eyes in time to see Raymond standing
across the room, in full armored glory, reeling in the Kintzi with his
claw-cables. Three steely fingers were wrapped around this Kintzi's
throat from behind, squeezing and crushing as she struggled. "Raymond!
Thank God you're here! What took you so long?"
"I was battling Aurora when I got your message. It's a long story. The
short version is that she's here now. Throw on a lab coat and get out of
here, this is going to get ugly." His attention turned to the Kintzi.
"And as for you, we're taking this outside."
*
Meanwhile, a ferocious battle was taking place outside. Aurora had the
remaining Kintzi in an unbreakable bear-hug, but it took all her strength
to hold the squirming creature still. The female Arion was rushing
toward the pair at top speed and the male Arion was trying desperately
not to get hit by an endless barrage of ion cannon fire from the badly
beaten but still standing PCH.
Raymond's quick mind sized up the situation almost instantly. His free
arm held the auto-aim laser, and he fired at the female Arion's legs.
The sharp, unexpected pain tripped her up and she fell tumbling out of
control past Aurora and the Kintzi.
The Kintzi in Aurora's arms went limp seconds later, and she turned to
face the Arion female. The Arion unleashed her heat vision on Aurora's
chest, but Aurora learned from Kara's mistake so long ago. Instead of
trying to absorb the energy, she used her own heat vision back at the
Arion. The weaker Arion was forced to back down after a moment, realized
the trick would no longer work, and decided to try hand-to-hand combat,
an area in which she happened to excel.
Raymond was still busy with the Kintzi in his grip. He roughly slammed
the creature down onto the hard earth and held her there. Her wildly
flailing limbs and claws would have saved her from this sort of attack
from a being of flesh, but a machine feels no pain. Her claws dug over a
quarter inch into Raymond's armored form to no avail. He raised his free
arm and, with several blows strong enough to make the ground shake and
nearly bury the Kintzi in the ground, he shattered her skull.
At the same time, the male Arion had managed to get around behind the
slow turning PCH. With a powerful leap, he slammed his body into the
undercarriage of the machine and sent it flying forward for a short
distance before it smashed into a crumpled heap on the ground. Before he
had a chance to even catch his breath, though, he became aware of the
armored figure of Raymond barreling down on him like a freight train.
Aurora was not faring well against the Arion female. She was obviously a
better fighter than Aurora was. Every punch was met with a block, every
attempt to grab her got her thrown, and every time she lost her balance
she got hit again. "I was sent on this mission for a reason, Aurora. I
happen to be the best hand-to-hand combat instructor assigned to Earth.
I know every move you're going to make before you make it. You're the
most predictable fighter I've ever met!" With that, she pulled Aurora
around and twisted her into a wrestling hold.
Aurora found herself facing Raymond, fighting like a man possessed. He
embodied the painless, tireless machine as well as the raging obsession
only a man could generate. This was a combination that seemed
unstoppable to the Arion he was fighting. Nothing the Arion could do
could faze him. There were no sensitive spots on a piece of armor to
focus on, and there was no algorithm in a man to get used to. He was
losing, and losing badly.
The only comfort the Arion had was that although Raymond was a very
effective fighter, he had no idea how to fight a super-powerful being!
Throwing him to the ground did very little good, since compared to his
invulnerable flesh the ground was almost comfortably soft. Smashing him
into a tree was likewise ineffective. This gave the Arion some time, but
it was running out nonetheless.
"See Aurora? Even your powerful friend is sadly ineffective against us.
He is still a Terran after all, he holds Terran ideas too close to
himself. He really believes that throwing Kayne into a tree will hurt!"
"He's not my friend, sister, he's trying to kill me too." Aurora
responded. She found that struggling made her shoulders hurt, so she
gave in somewhat. "I don't know where he came from, but he seems to hate
Arions. So he's got some good points."
"Well now, that throws a whole new twist on things, doesn't it? We
thought he was working for you when he started attacking us. Well, as
long as we're not going anywhere for a while, let's watch the show." A
malicious grin came over the Arion's face as her grip started to move up
from Aurora's waist to her chest. She meant to humiliate Aurora, not
just defeat her!
"What do you mean attacking you? What's he been up to?"
"You mean you don't know? He single-handedly destroyed a small
communications relay station in San Fransisco. He must've torn into it
like a fucking madman, we found claw marks in the walls and the ceiling
was caved in in places. Fortunatly for the Betas who were manning it,
the base itself seemed to be his target. Only a couple were killed and
about half of them were seriously injured."
Soon, Raymond saw that he was doing something wrong. The Arion was no
where near as damaged as he should be. His face was a bit bruised from
being used as a punching bag, but that was all. "I don't know how you
can keep fighting after the pounding I've given you, but that's going to
change right now." Raymond gripped the Arion by his throat and
threw him into a concrete parking barrier. Before he could get up, a
powerful stream of neutron particles erupted from the middle of the
armor's left hand. The particle beam struck the Kayne in the midsection,
beginning a chain reaction that ate away at most of his shirt and part of
the flesh around the targeted area. "Die, damn you, die!
Arion invulnerability struggled against a building chain reaction in his
skin and muscle, with each passing instant the reaction grew stronger but
also had a larger area to affect. In a few seconds, the reaction died
down and halted, but not before nearly eating it's way through his
abdominal muscles! The pain was excruciating, and nearly immobilizing.
"Stay here, I'll deal with you later." Raymond's command was obviously
redundant, and sarcastic. Above all it was clear that he had his
composure back.
"And as for you two..." His sentence did not need to be finished.
Raymond walked toward the pair of aliens, locked in a wrestling grip,
knowing he had all the time in the world to get to them. If the Arion
let go, she risked getting hit by either of them; and it didn't seem as
through Aurora could move.
This is where both the Arion and Raymond had misjudged Aurora's power.
While the Arion had been adjusting her grip, she didn't notice that her
leverage was being compromised. Aurora played into it. With a quick
jerk forward, she freed her right arm and brought it full-force back into
the Arion's midsection. She then used her surprise attack to free
herself and allow her to twist the Arion's arm behind her back. "Who's a
predictable fighter, bitch?!"
Then Aurora turned to Raymond. "Use your machine gun! I'll hold her
down!"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you? I haven't forgotten that we're not on
the same side. You want me to use my ammunition up on this cannon fodder
before you attack me. Or maybe you want to gauge my power the way I did
with you. It won't happen." He instead turned his auto-aim laser at
Aurora's face!
Aurora released her captive and held her face, caught off-guard by
Raymond's attack. The Arion responded not by attacking, but by running
toward Kayne! She scooped up the Arion male in her arms and lept
skyward with her powerful legs.
Aurora came to her senses quickly. "Look what you've done! They're
getting away!" She bounded into the air and began to fly after them, but
a sudden addition of three tons of weight surprised her enough to stop
her ascent. "What are you doing, you crazy son of a bitch!!?" Raymond
had grappled her to him with his claw-cables.
"I'm letting them go. First of all, they will tell their superiors that
I am a force to be reckoned with. This will stop the petty attacks like
the jet fighter I had to face the other day, and force them to waste
manpower on trying to stop me instead of implementing their plans.
Secondly, I still have my battle with you to finish."
Aurora landed, and Raymond released his cables and reeled them in.
Aurora decided to try a different approach to the problem. "Come on,
sugar, I'm not the enemy." She put on her most seductive smile and
strode confidently toward him, swinging her hips as she walked and
exagerating the lift and sway of her chest. "I'll show you who's side I'm
on, if you'll let me."
Aurora came closer to the armored form, it was motionless. It stood like
a deactivated robot as she wrapped one arm around the helmet and one
around the waist. Every motion was meant to be smooth and seductive.
She pressed her ample breasts into the lower chest of the machine, and
again saw just how big it was. It stood over seven feet, almost eight,
with broad shoulders, powerfully thick limbs, and legs that were
just slightly too long to fit the proportions.
"Mmmm, you remind me of someone, you know..." She whispered. It was
true, Raymond did remind her a bit of The Guardian. It made her want to
get to the man inside the armor as she did with him. "...someone very
special to me."
The armor finally moved. She prepared herself for a wash of comfortable
physical sensations, imagining the steel hands caressing her skin, but
was instead caught in the same kind of powerful death-grip that she held
a Kintzi warrior in not more than five minutes ago! "You are a fool,
Aurora. This machine is completely sealed. Your pheromones can't get to
me as long as I am inside. And you can't seduce me any more than you
could if you were on TV." Aurora cried out in pain, she felt her breasts
nearly flatten against her chest and her back bend awkwardly. "I can't
feel your touch through the suit and right now I see you as nothing more
than a blob of warm and cold areas on my monitor."
Aurora struggled, but her arms were misplaced for trying to break free.
One was over his shoulder and the other was caught in his grip. She
tried to pound on the armor but couldn't get a good swing to do any sort
of damage. After a moment, she felt her ribs begin to buckle under the
strain. "How does it feel, Aurora? How do you like being caught in a
grip so tight that you can't get out? How does it feel knowing that
there's nothing you can do to prevent being crushed under someone else's
strength? This is what countless numbers of your victims have
experienced under your embrace. It's only fitting that it should be the
way you die as well."
Aurora began to panic. It was extremely rare for her to feel so
confined, and even more rare for her to feel like her life was actually
about to come to an end. Her own mortality washed over her in a wave of
fear the likes of which she had never before experienced! She only knew
she had to move, and there was only one method of motion still available
to her.
She flew. She flew straight up, complete with three tons of steel and
weapons, into the Los Angeles sky. She couldn't accelerate very quickly
in her weakened state, but at least she could move. And she continued in
her panic to fly, faster and faster, feeling the air begin to apply
serious amounts of friction to her skin. But nothing could break the
grip of the machine holding her. An idea came to her. She would
continue upwards, past the atmosphere into the vacuum of orbit, and see
what effect that would have on this invincible armor!
As they flew, she realized that no one, not since Sh'Lyra, had been able
to do this to her. This armor was so far beyond anything else on Earth,
she strained to think of how he could build this suit of armor so
powerful it rivaled a Velorian for strength! She was also surprised that
she was not feeling as turned on as she thought she should. It was every
Velorian's deepest fantasy, bred genetically into them, to be dominated
in this way. The problem was that this was so non-sexual. Unlike any
other she had ever faced, Raymond had no intention of raping her or
dominating her, this was an embrace of death, and only death!
Higher and higher they went, past the highest cloud tops and into the
cold, thinning, dark blue air that signaled the beginning of their exit
from Earth's thin coating of oxygen and nitrogen. It seemed to take an
eternity, and Aurora didn't know how much longer she could withstand the
crushing grip. They continued until Aurora found that she could no
longer take a lung full of air, or was that because of Raymond's grip?
She forced her eyes open, despite the pain. Communication was now
impossible between the two, as there was no air to transmit sound. She
looked at the armor for any sign of weakness, but saw only the cold,
passionless stare of the helmet.
Aurora knew that she had complete control over where they were going, but
it didn't seem to do her a lot of good. She needed somewhere to go. Her
mind was burning with pain and she found it difficult to think. Her mind
reeled for an idea, and she found one, one-sixth the size of the Earth
and right in front of her. She headed for the moon with every ounce of
her failing strength left in her, crossing the unbelievable distance at
even more unbelievable speeds.
Raymond, still clinging to Aurora, was the first Terran ever to travel at
this velocity, but he felt somehow less than honored. This was taking
too long, she should have been dead a long, long time ago. He knew that
Aurora was much stronger than the Arions, but until now he really didn't
understand just how much more invulnerable she was. The Arion he had
brought back from the talk show studio had proved extremely valuable in
discovering the limits of Arion invulnerability, but Velorian
invulnerability was obviously another matter entirely!
Aurora felt the last shattered remains of her consciousness leave her
just as they entered the moon's gravitational pull. In a short while,
the pair collided with the cratered, rocky surface at a low angle,
digging trenches between high bounces and finally, tumbling to a halt
almost a mile from their original impact site! Raymond's grip had failed
somewhere along the way, and the two lay motionless about fifty yards
apart.
"But man, did we go off on a tangent there. I was saying we might be
able to get him to join us if we explain the whole thing to him, tell him
about the Arions, how we need as much help as we can get. See if he'll
listen to reason."
From a private yacht a few miles Northeast of Los Angeles, a half-drunken
host points out what seems to be a very small plane, very high in the
clear blue sky. A few on board comment on how fast it seems to be
moving, far too fast for small aircraft. At least the speed of sound. A
few minutes and a sonic boom later, it is too far away to see. Moments
later two explosions follow from the direction it was headed, but again,
it is to far away to see. One more UFO sighting goes unacounted for.