Chapter 175

  The mechanical hounds and shoulder cannons tracked Alexander as the three superhumans began to spread out. Watchdog moved left, his dogs flowing with him in formation. The forgehero stalked right with heavy thuds.

  The third one stayed center, still grinning. Alexander recognized him from the intelligence report as well, though he had paid little attention to him. Ricochet. Super strength, durability, and some sort of compression-related Aerokinesis.

  “So,” Alexander said, floating above billions in almost-stolen materials, “what happened to the other technopath? Thought there were supposed to be two of them tonight.”

  The question caught Ricochet off-guard. His grin faltered. “Oh, uh. Bastard took the night off.”

  A beat passed.

  “Don’t tell him that,” Watchdog growled.

  Ricochet’s expression shifted as the enthusiasm drained away, replaced by something that looked uncomfortably like tactical awareness. He glanced at Watchdog, then at the forgehero.

  “Yo, Watchdog, Jimmy,” he said slowly. “Is it just me, or does he seem really relaxed even though there are three of us?”

  Alexander lifted his hand. Then swung it down.

  One of the vault doors shot forward, spinning through the air. It crashed into the far entrance with a sound like thunder, tons of reinforced metal slamming into the doorway where a dozen armed guards had been rushing to assist. Concrete exploded. Steel screamed.

  Ricochet and Jimmy spun toward the impact. Watchdog never moved. His eyes stayed locked on Alexander, mechanical hounds spreading wider as weapon mounts tracked and adjusted. Alexander’s drones shifted in response, shield-blades forming a barrier that blocked every firing angle.

  When the dust cleared, the entrance was blocked.

  Alexander let the second vault door drift into position beside him. A shield. Or a weapon. Either worked.

  “Hey, chromer. The MALOS.” He tapped the top of his own eye socket. “How’s it installed? Modular or integrated? Just wondering if I can disconnect it or if I’m going to have to unbolt the housing from your skull.”

  Silence fell across the vault.

  All three of them froze. Jimmy’s visible eye widened. What remained of his face turned pale. His hand moved toward the ocular rig, stopped halfway, then fell back to his side.

  The silence stretched.

  “You’re insane,” Jimmy said finally.

  “Integrated then.” Alexander nodded. “Makes sense they wouldn’t want you to remove it easily.”

  A heartbeat passed.

  Alexander’s enhanced senses caught it. The minute shift in Watchdog’s stance, the fractional tension in Jimmy’s cybernetic frame, Ricochet’s half-grin freezing into something sharper. Three superhumans who’d worked together before, coordinating without words.

  Animachina surged through Alexander’s Core.

  The power flooded into all nine drones simultaneously. Each connection snapped into place with the ease of months of practice. Where he’d managed five with strain during the cultivator fight, nine now felt stable. The machines became extensions of his Will, infused with his essence rather than mere tools to be commanded.

  Behind and above, Droney held position, sensors sweeping the vault. Coordinating and observing. The soul-bond between them remained separate from the nine infused connections.

  Even with his own intent flooding the drones, Alexander mentally stepped back. Trusting Droney to manage the small swarm in his place, the little machine’s processing faster than his own conscious decision-making.

  The attack erupted.

  Watchdog’s hounds opened fire, splitting up and charging between the armored transports below. Rapid energy pulses ripped through the air, searing blue-white streaks converging on Alexander’s position. Jimmy’s shoulder cannons joined half a second later, heavier blasts screaming as they cut through the loading bay’s atmosphere. The MALOS eye activated with a sharp whine, and a laser beam lanced forward.

  Nine infused drones intercepted. Energy pulses slammed into the shields and deflected. The heavier cannon fire scattered, scarring the metal faces of the drones but not able to penetrate deeper. The laser carved a burning line across one drone’s chassis before the others shifted to block the follow-up.

  Alexander swung his cybernetic arm down.

  Metallokinesis pulsed, seizing the second vault door floating beside him. The massive slab of reinforced metal spun through the air, tons of steel rotating as it hurtled toward Jimmy’s oversized cybernetic legs.

  Concrete exploded.

  Ricochet launched across the intervening space, sliding in front of the chromer with explosive speed. His fist came up in a devastating uppercut that connected with the vault door’s edge.

  The impact detonated outward.

  Metal screeched as the door bent, caught between Alexander’s power pushing it forward and the explosive force of Ricochet’s compression-enhanced strike shoving it back. Alexander’s focus was spread across too many things at once. Nine drones infused and holding formation. His own flight. The vault door’s momentum.

  Metallokinesis lost.

  The vault door rocketed upward like a bullet. It slammed into the ceiling seventy feet above, embedding itself in a spray of concrete dust and debris. Chunks of reinforced material rained down across the loading bay, crashing against truck roofs and clattering across the floor.

  Alexander’s grin widened.

  “Okay,” he said. “Now we’re having fun.”

  Watchdog’s hounds scattered across the loading bay floor. One broke formation, trying to circle beneath Alexander’s position.

  Alexander’s left hand clenched into a fist.

  Two armored transports lurched sideways. Tons of reinforced plating accelerated toward each other with the hound caught between them. The dog tried to leap, servos screaming as it pushed off the concrete.

  Metal crashed into metal.

  The sharp impact reverberated throughout the vault. The hound’s chassis crumpled between the converging trucks, weapons systems sparking as they sheared off. Alexander released his hold, and both transports’ automatic systems hovered them back into position.

  Watchdog’s remaining hounds erupted with smoke. Thick gray clouds surrounded them, flooding the loading bay beneath Alexander. The obscuring screen spread fast, cutting off his direct line of sight to everything below.

  His powered senses cut through the interference without issue. Watchdog’s bioelectric signature and the three remaining machines were unmissable.

  His right hand snapped up.

  Metallokinesis seized the parked vehicles at the far end of the loading bay. All three cars lurched, yanked forward, metal groaning as they accelerated across the concrete toward Ricochet and Jimmy.

  Jimmy’s shoulder cannons continued firing, energy blasts screaming upward through the gray haze. The chromer’s head turned toward the approaching vehicles.

  “Incoming!” Jimmy shouted.

  Ricochet spun around. His fist shot forward three times in rapid succession, each punch detonating with compressed air that tore outward like shaped charges. The first sedan exploded, frame twisting as the blast ripped it in half. The second vehicle disintegrated. The third burst apart in a spray of metal fragments.

  Ricochet froze. “My car!”

  Jimmy’s shoulder mounts rotated. The cannons fired twice, launching cylindrical objects that arced through the air toward Alexander’s position.

  Metallokinesis caught both grenades mid-flight.

  They detonated anyway.

  Greenish gas erupted from the ruptured casings, expanding outward in a rapidly growing cloud. The grenades had been designed to deploy on impact or timer. Alexander’s interference just triggered them early.

  His drones shifted formation, shield-blades overlapping to block as much of the expanding gas as possible. Alexander threw himself backward and down, dropping beneath the cloud’s trajectory as it billowed upward from where he’d caught the grenades.

  Without knowing if the gas was an inhalant or contact threat, avoiding it completely was the only play.

  Two hounds launched out of the smoke screen below.

  Alexander spun, both arms extended as he dropped. Electrokinesis poured into both his cybernetic arm and the gauntlet on his right.

  With a thought, the cybernetic arm dialed back to twenty-five percent of its capacity, while the gauntlet remained at maximum.

  Lightning bolts erupted from both palms, catching the two machines in the chest. The hounds shuddered and seized, their internals overheating and bursting with sharp cracks.

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  Alexander landed, disappearing into the smoke.

  Droney switched tactics. Overhead, all nine drones began spinning rapidly before racing toward Ricochet and Jimmy.

  Alexander marched through the haze confidently despite his vision being obscured. He could clearly sense Watchdog, his remaining hound, and the position of each armored transport.

  “You know, I picked today on purpose,” Alexander said conversationally. “I was looking forward to testing myself against you and the mech-suit guy. I wanted to see how my powers stacked up against yours.”

  Alexander felt Watchdog’s heart rate spike as the superhero stumbled backward, trying to find his way out of the smoke.

  “I’m genuinely disappointed. The dogs are cool and all… but no hovertech?” Alexander turned, making his way around another truck. “No hardened systems to prevent electrical surges? And your own suit is just a costume?”

  Alexander rounded the transport and found Watchdog pressed against its side, his eyes widening at the sight of Alexander approaching.

  “Nothing?” Alexander asked.

  He waited several heartbeats, listening to the sounds of combat from the other side of the vault. Felt one of his drones take the full force of Ricochet’s punch before crashing into a wall, battery systems cracking as his connection to it severed.

  Alexander shrugged and raised his left arm, electricity surging from his Core, steadily recharging its capacitors.

  Watchdog threw up his arms to defend himself. “It’s expensive!”

  Alexander cocked his head. “Huh. Yeah, that’s fair.”

  Lightning erupted from his palm, catching the man in the chest and slamming him back against the armored truck.

  The final hound surged toward him, stuttered, tripping over its own legs as it stopped receiving commands. Then it fell over onto its side, motionless beside its unconscious owner.

  Alexander tsked. “Doesn’t even have basic automation and self-defense protocols. Unbelievable.”

  He considered his options. With time to think about it now, it was obvious the gas couldn’t be anything too dangerous. Likely not a skin contact threat either, given the risk to the man’s own allies. That or it had to disperse or turn inert quickly.

  Alexander took a careful breath, rising out of the smoke as another drone went offline.

  The battlefield had shifted. His remaining drones swarmed around Jimmy, darting rapidly in and out range, shield-blades carving into him. The forgehero’s massive cybernetic arms swung at them, trying to bat them away, but Droney kept them moving. Too close for the cybernetic’s energy weapons, while staying clear of Ricochet’s deadly punches.

  Smart.

  Jimmy didn’t look great. Deep gouges scored both arms. One leg showed exposed servos beneath torn plating. His left shoulder cannon hung bent and useless, the barrel twisted at an angle that would never fire again.

  Ricochet spotted Alexander. “Jimmy! Handle the bots, I got the boss!”

  The stocky hero crouched. Then erupted upward as the air beneath his feet exploded. Another explosion launched him higher. Then another. Chaining bursts of aerokinetic force that sent him rocketing toward Alexander’s position like a human missile.

  Alexander reached behind him with Metallokinesis and seized an entire pallet in Vault 1A. Ten copper cathode sheets, each one a meter square and over a hundred kilograms. He yanked, tearing them free of their restraints, and sent them spinning one after the other through the air.

  Blunt frisbees. Giant, deadly, blunt frisbees.

  The first sheet reached Ricochet mid-flight. The hero rotated, his body twisting with the kind of spatial awareness that came from constant practice. His hand slapped out.

  The air exploded.

  The cathode sheet deformed, deflecting sideways. Ricochet went spinning toward the wall from the recoil, completely controlled. His feet hit the concrete. Another explosion launched him back toward Alexander.

  Alexander split the remaining sheets into two streams, sending them at Ricochet from different angles while simultaneously rising higher. Metallokinesis adjusted his own position, oscillating waves carrying him across the vault’s airspace.

  Ricochet bounced.

  His fist punched out, catching a cathode sheet dead center. The copper bent from the impact as the air detonated. He spun, landed feet-first on another sheet, and launched off it with enough force to send the metal careening into the wall behind him. A kick deflected a third. A shoulder check sent a fourth tumbling.

  The hero moved as if born to this. Every surface became a launching point. Every projectile another opportunity to demonstrate why he’d earned his name.

  Alexander’s other hand rose.

  Metallokinesis seized a pallet of aluminum ingots from Vault 2B. Twenty-kilogram blocks of metal that he sent firing like bullets. The ingots joined the copper sheets, creating overlapping streams of metal that filled the air between them.

  Ricochet ricocheted through the air.

  Thunderclaps echoed across the vault as the hero punched, kicked, slapped, and bounced his way through the barrage. Copper sheets embedded themselves in walls. Aluminum ingots punched into concrete, some penetrating halfway through before stopping. A cathode sheet hit the floor and skidded, tearing up the surface before slamming into a truck. Ingots peppered the ceiling, creating a pattern of impact craters.

  Alexander continued rising.

  Below, the chaos intensified. Metal flew everywhere, bouncing off surfaces or embedding where it struck. The vault was becoming a demolition zone.

  Hyperawareness picked up the threat at the same time Droney’s warning flashed across the bond.

  Alexander didn’t hesitate. Metallokinesis pulsed, throwing himself sideways.

  The laser beam caught his breastplate anyway.

  Time seemed to slow. Electrokinesis surged through his body, adrenaline spiking, every sensation sharpening as the MALOS system tracked his evasion. Alexander’s desperate dodge dragged the beam across his armor. Ablatives burned away in a line of fire and smoke. The beam slid across the curved surface, carving through protective layers.

  Then it slipped off the edge.

  The beam cut through his clothes. Through flesh. Through muscle. Scored bone beneath his right shoulder, a line of searing agony that lanced through his entire arm.

  Then he was free.

  The drones launched themselves at Jimmy with renewed aggression.

  Alexander gritted his teeth and reached inward with his Will. He still couldn’t command them directly, but the collective responded to his intent regardless, shifting slowly, making their way toward the wound.

  Ricochet burst upward through the chaos, tracking Alexander’s ascent. The hero’s pursuit was relentless. Another explosion. Another direction change. Closing the distance despite the metal storm between them.

  The hero arrived like a cannonball.

  Alexander snapped out his cybernetic left, fingers closing around Ricochet’s fist at the last possible instant. Metallokinesis poured into the arm, trying to lock the limb in place. Trying to contain the explosive force that was sure to follow.

  A pocket of air bloomed into existence between Ricochet’s fist and Alexander’s palm.

  Then it exploded.

  And continued exploding.

  The force vibrated up the arm, uncomfortable where the metal bonded to his shoulder but not yet painful. Each detonation rippled through the reinforced structure in rapid succession.

  Alexander was pushed backward despite his efforts. Ricochet forced himself forward, explosions erupting from his feet. Driving the hero onward with relentless pressure. More explosions erupted from his captured fist, the continuous barrage hammering against Alexander’s grip.

  Ricochet’s other arm drew back as they raced upward.

  Alexander’s shoulders crashed hard against solid concrete. The ceiling.

  “Big Effing Boom!”

  Metallokinesis pulsed hard. Alexander threw himself sideways, dragging himself across the ceiling, the backplate of his armor scraping loudly, just as Ricochet punched.

  The ceiling exploded.

  Concrete and rebar fragments burst outward in a spray of debris. Dust billowed, swallowing them both. The reinforced structure cratered from the impact, chunks raining down across the vault floor below.

  Ricochet emerged from the dust cloud still in pursuit, already redirecting himself to chase.

  Alexander evaded again, pulling himself further across the ceiling. Then dropped lower, copper sheets and aluminum ingots continuing their assault from multiple angles.

  Ricochet reminded him of Annie. The hero was dangerous. Strong, durable, and mobile enough to turn any attack into an opportunity. But he was direct. Even in his technique-naming sense. Every approach followed the same pattern. Explosive movement, aggressive strikes, constant forward pressure.

  It made him predictable.

  The durability and mobility were a nuisance, though. Landing a solid hit seemed unlikely when Ricochet could bounce off the attack itself. And even if Alexander connected, the hero’s enhanced physiology would probably shrug off most impacts.

  Alexander felt his arm hit full charge. The gauntlet had been ready for a while already.

  Lightning would hurt the guy, but instinct and experience warned him it wouldn’t be enough to put the hero down with a single strike. Not without extreme measures.

  He considered the timing while redirecting another wave of metal.

  The fight had been going on for over a minute now. Watchdog was down. Jimmy was getting carved up by drones. Ricochet was manageable, but defeating him fast would be a challenge. And fast was absolutely necessary. There was no way these three hadn’t sent out warnings the moment they’d realized who they were fighting.

  Other heroes would be coming. AEGIS would recall them from the distractions across the city, sending them here.

  As much as he wanted to keep fighting, to see who would wear the other down first, Alexander needed to wrap this up.

  He dropped.

  Metallokinesis shifted from maintaining altitude to rapid descent. Alexander fell toward the loading bay floor, passing through the streams of metal he was still controlling.

  Ricochet grinned and dove after him, batting aside ingots and sheets.

  Alexander landed atop one of the armored transports, knees bending to absorb the impact. Metallokinesis surged. But instead of gentle oscillations meant to power flight, he seized himself, armor, cybernetic arm, boots, gauntlet, and hurled himself backwards.

  Alexander landed on the platform before one of the open vaults, stumbling backwards to maintain his footing.

  Ricochet followed, explosions allowing him to perform an almost perfect ninety-degree pivot in pursuit. The hero pulled his arm back again, compressing air around his fist as he accelerated.

  Alexander completed his performance. Electrokinesis pulsed through his Core at maximum. He felt the tension leave as his muscles relaxed, ready to react. His pupils dilated, pulling in more light.

  He slowly righted himself, eyes lifting to watch the oncoming hero.

  Then twisted aside at the last possible moment. The perfectly timed pulse of Metallokinesis wrenched him into a spin using only his arm as the anchor, boots scraping across the floor.

  Ricochet shot past him, unable to course-correct fast enough. The hero flew straight through the open doorway of Vault 6B.

  Thunder erupted as the man’s power exploded, counteracting his momentum and rotating him back toward the entrance.

  And his only exit.

  Alexander’s left hand swept up. Electrokinesis surged through the arm as arrays of capacitor banks unleashed their stored charge.

  Lightning struck.

  Ricochet took the bolt dead center. His eyes widened in shock. A grunt tore from his throat. And then the hero hurtled back, crashing against the far wall of the vault hard enough to crack the concrete.

  Alexander waved his other hand through the air.

  Metallokinesis seized the vault door and slammed it shut. Tons of reinforced steel swung closed with a heavy boom that echoed throughout the loading bay.

  He twisted, and the internal locking mechanisms rotated back into place, sealing the hero inside.

  Half a second later, the hammering started.

  Powerful impacts from inside. Ricochet’s compression-enhanced strikes hitting the door from within. The metal shuddered with each blow. Subtle deformities grew on the exterior surface.

  Alexander frowned.

  Given enough time, the hero would actually break through. The door was designed to keep thieves out, not to keep superhumans in.

  His hands rose.

  Metallokinesis reached out to the remaining vaults. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B. Six vault doors that tore free of their housings with screams of protesting metal. The massive slabs rotated through the air, converging on Vault 6B.

  They slammed against the closed door one after another. Adding layers. Creating a seal that went from tons to dozens of tons. The impacts rang out like thunder, each door settling into place against the one before it.

  The hammering from inside grew muffled. Then stopped entirely as Ricochet apparently realized the problem.

  Alexander lowered his hands and turned, surveying the vault.

  There was metal embedded everywhere. Smoke still clearing. Vault doors stacked six deep against 6B. Jimmy was down on one knee, still struggling to defend himself against the remaining drones, which continued their coordinated assault. Watchdog unconscious beside his final fallen hound.

  Alexander allowed himself a small smile.

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