Sword of Minerva (The Guild Wars Book 10) by Mark Wandrey (great books for teens TXT) 📕

“What are you?” the second guard cried out as he saw Rick’s glowing eyes and metallic face. The man reached for a high-voltage stunner on his belt. He jammed the conductive tip into Rick’s metallic abdomen, triggering a 50,000-volt discharge. The Æsir’s hybrid batteries registered a 12% increase in power.

Rick sighed and backhanded the man, sending him cartwheeling to the side, where he landed in a heap. Spinning around, he found only one opSha still moving, but Sato was on his knees, the alien on his back, and its hand around his neck. Sato was screaming and writhing. Rick moved in a blur.

* * *

Just like the time he’d apparently fought the men in Houston, Sato didn’t remember any of it from the instant before the fight began until the end. This time the ending was different.

His feelings of self returned with a crash; awareness of his situation instantly sent him into a panic. Around him, three of the opSha were sprawled, contorted in either death or unconsciousness. The final one was on his back, scrambling to get a grasp around his neck. Along with his feelings of self were the sensations of many bruises and scratches. This hadn’t been a one-sided fight like the one with the street toughs in Houston.

“Hold still, damn you!” The opSha on his back snapped, its fingers trying for a grip in his hair.

Sato had never taken to combat courses while in the Winged Hussars. He was a scientist, not some grunt in a CASPer. This strange part of him was disturbing. “Proctor,” the opSha had called him. His knuckles ached, likely from smashing them into the alien’s face or other parts.

“Get off,” he cried and tried to shake it off. He was at least five times the size of the opSha, but it was amazingly nimble and strong for its size. Then he felt tiny hands scrambling to reach his pinlinks, the external access ports for his pinplants. Fear exploded in the pit of his stomach, and he somehow knew it wasn’t the first time. It had touched them moments ago, briefly, and attempted to access his mind through them! It must have some sort of interface in its hands.

Sato did the only thing he could think, he threw himself at the ground, backwards. It was a wild reverse jump, almost like a dive toward the water. It was a completely instinctual move, with no concept of the repercussions, and it was the best move he could have performed.

Halfway to the ground, the opSha’s hands touched his pinlinks, and he felt the attack. A brutal lance of thought, the way a laser focuses light; boring, cutting, probing into his pinplants and…reaching…

Then he hit the ground, crushing the opSha between himself and the concrete walkway outside the museum that had become a battleground. He clearly heard the hollow thwack of the opSha’s head striking concrete, and the grasp lessened. The loosening upon impact was also accompanied by the cracking of bone, which was transmitted through their flesh. “Grahh!” the opSha cried out in pain.

He’d had a simian cushion between himself and the unyielding concrete. Still, he added another handful of bumps to the already long list. He hadn’t felt this beaten up since he’d returned to New Warsaw after the Keesius incident. With a groan, he rolled off the opSha, who raised a weapon pointed at Sato’s head.

“So be it,” the alien snarled, and pulled the trigger.

The pop of the tiny projectile weapon firing and the clang! of the bullet striking Rick’s armored hand were nearly instantaneous. So close together Sato jumped, fully believing the round had split his skull.

“You okay?” Rick asked, hovering a meter up and casually dropping the bullet. The opSha struggled with shaking hands to reload the apparently single-shot weapon. Rick moved an arm, and a tiny laser pulse split the weapon in two, taking some of the alien’s fingers with it. “That’s enough of that,” Rick said to the alien.

Sato struggled to his feet and stared at the defeated being, holding a savaged limb and glaring at him. The face held pain and hate in equal parts. “What is this all about?” he demanded.

“You should have stayed hidden,” the opSha said. “Saisho knows and will find you.” It took a calming breath and closed its tiny eyes. A moment later an electrical spark arced from the being’s pinplants, and it spasmed for a moment before falling limp.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Rick demanded as he landed next to Sato.

“I-I don’t know,” he admitted. His left knee and ankle hurt badly. He was afraid his ankle was broken. He pointed at the other three opSha. “Are they dead?”

Rick’s head turned fractionally as he used his suit’s sensors. “Yes, all from various blunt force trauma, and one broken neck. I wish you could turn that shit on and off when you wanted.”

“Me, too,” Sato admitted and moved closer to the last one. He quickly pulled a logic probe from his little toolkit and touched it to the alien’s pinlink. The computer diagnostic tool quickly told him the pinplants were completely destroyed. “Burned out his own pinplants, killed himself,” he said aloud.

“Surprised he didn’t say ‘Hail, Hydra,’ or some shit like that,” Rick mumbled.

Sato didn’t have time to wonder what Rick meant. The two guards Rick had disabled were slowly coming around. At the entrance to the museum, people were screaming and running about. The sound of sirens in the distance was growing closer. But he couldn’t leave immediately. He bent over the body and started searching.

“What are you looking for?” Rick asked. “We gotta get outta here.”

“Clues,” Sato said.

“The police are coming. We’re all over their dispatch.”

“Then the faster you help, the quicker we can get out of here!”

Rick cursed quietly but went to one of the fallen