Contractor (33 page)

chimneys and air vents was a cinch with his

improved reaction time. And he’d gotten a

lot better at the jumping, too. It was either

that, or wake up with a lot of bruises.

He leapt off the rooftop lot and down

onto the roofs of the next block. In a few

seconds, he was at the threshold of the Vorid

magic.

He only paused at the edge of the barrier

for a moment. This wasn’t his first rodeo.

Time to kick ass.

The world turned grey. The sound of

cars was cut off. The waves of the river

within the dome were frozen in place,

always reflecting the moonlight at the same

angle.

But it wasn’t quiet. He could feel

extractors plummeting down in groups all

over the city—dozens of them, far more than

he’d ever encountered. The red crack in the

sky, topping the dome, was larger than

normal. This was big.

Daniel put a foot on the edge of the

building he stood on, ready to jump over the

next street.

He stopped.

He ducked down behind a chimney and

curled into a ball. Five bright points of

magic flew past him, all tucked into a

swirling tornado of green-tinted air.

Magicians.
One of them was towing the rest

along with some kind of wind spell. They all

wore the gold and white tabards.

Daniel chose a different direction,

running, jumping, running some more. It

wasn’t long until he encountered a troop of

extractors. He leaned out over the edge of the

roof, then went still and cloaked his powers.

There were seven—no, eight of them.

The robots were arranged in a tight

group on the street. A black cloud floated

over and around their steel heads. Smoke

was pouring from the gaps in their joints.

Energy from the inscriptions on their steel

casings powered the magic. He could feel

rather than see that part.

Magic churned in the center of that

cloud, condensing at its thickest point. It fell

like muddy raindrops. The black balls goo

plopped to the ground—and then they grew

legs. Feelers. A spine cracked and shaped

itself on their backs. And then the newly

formed spawn scurried through the streets,

hunting for helpless hosts.

It was like a little factory of terror. The

extractors were churning out replacements

for the spawn Daniel had been slaughtering.

It was fascinating, in a sick sort of way.

The difference between the two forms of

Vorid magic was odd. The spawn were rats,

slugs, biological parasites that merged with

flesh. But the extractors were metal

humanoids, driven by programming and

magical inscriptions. Was there something

there?

Maybe, when technology developed that

far, it wasn’t as much of a difference.

Daniel jumped. He hung in the air over

the extractors, two stories up. He brought his

mace up over his head.

He concentrated as much power as he

could into the very tip of his mace,

containing it within a tiny point of

destruction. The more he could focus on one

single point, the stronger it got.

The extractor’s head swiveled up just as

he reached it. His spiked weapon smashed

his target’s face in, then continued down,

ripping through the steel down to its waist. It

was disintegrating before Daniel’s feet hit

the ground.

He touched down on his toes even as the

extractor’s energy rushed into him. Daniel

grinned in triumph. It had taken a full-power

ambush, but he’d finally scored a one hit kill.

Gone were the days of bare survival, of

being hunted, of cowering in his bed sheets.

Now he was the hunter.

There were seven extractors left. Seven

palms were raised. Seven black lasers began

to charge up.

Daniel wasn’t intimidated—he’d seen it

plenty of times, now. He waited for the

telltale blinking of the inscriptions at their

wrists. Just before they fired, he burst to the

left faster than they could react. Their attacks

went wide.

He charged at the closest one before

they could reorient, sweeping the morning

star up from below. He caught it between the

legs, tossing it back and into its partners.

Daniel brought the mace back down and

landed another blow on its neighbor, bashing

through its head and down through its

shoulder.

Lasers fired again. Daniel was already

gone. He skipped into an alley, then scaled

the buildings by jumping from wall to wall.

The brick cracked under his feet as he

climbed.

He made the top of the building, fell

low, and wrapped up his power again,

putting it away, entering the Klide’s stealth

mode. Extractor heads rotated and clinked,

searching for him.

He jumped down again. A moment

before he reached them, he shoved his power

back into his mace. His surprise attack

finished off a second extractor.

They couldn’t keep up with his speed,

and because he could hide himself, they

couldn’t track him. His hit and run attacks

disabled or outright killed them one by one.

Soon he stood alone in a pile of broken

magic steel.

It all vanished, disintegrating into that

black smoke. It rushed into him and seeped

into his skin. He gripped his mace tightly. He

could feel the difference.

An explosion rocked the ground under

him. He reacted automatically, shoved his

power out in every direction, extending it

through his arms and legs on full blast.

He saw it in slow motion. An extractor

had burst from a wall and was flying toward

him. He dived down.

He felt wind rustle his hair as the

hulking robot flew over him. The extractor

slammed into the building on the other side

of the street and collapsed, twitching. Daniel

clambered up off the asphalt.

The extractor was struggling to move.

Daniel jumped onto it, plowed his mace

straight down into its chest, and tore it out

through its head. It disintegrated.

A voice like sandpaper scratching

granite fell on his ears. "That was my kill."

Daniel whipped his head back.Standing

in the hole in the building was a ten-foot tall

creature that dwarfed even the extractors. It

looked like an oversized ape, legs thick as

tree trunks and arms like steel crossbeams.

Its muscles had muscles. It was entirely

coated in long, dark grey fur.

Daniel’s mind spat something back out

at him. A tuft of fur on the underside of the

truck. The beaten and crushed body of the

victim. Daniel’s voice, muffled by his

facemask, came out in a sort of metallic

echo. "…you’re the Smasher, aren’t you?"

"I guess it’s obvious." It climbed

through the hole and onto the sidewalk

opposite Daniel. Dark eyes were set into a

face surrounded by a shiny mane. "What’re

you supposed to be? Iron Man?"

Daniel straightened his helmet. "Are you

a contractor too?"

"You got it."

"Then what the hell are you doing?!"

Daniel yelled. "You have to be able to feel

the magicians out there. If they find us, we’re

up shit creek without a paddle, and you’re

going around playing Jack the Ripper! Are

you nuts?!"

The Smasher let out a long series of

growling chuckles. "Who cares about normal

people?" It looked at him. "We can grow

more powerful than anything on this planet.

We can take anything we want. We make the

rules, not them."

Daniel stared at him.

The beast shrugged. "Thousands

disappear every day. A few here and there

won’t make a difference. Besides, they

deserved it."

"Are you seriously trying to justify

murder? We can get stronger by killing the

Vorid! Why are you -"

"I’ve half a mind to just go on a killing

spree," the Smasher said. It turned down its

face at Daniel. "Sentient souls don’t give

more energy than extractors, but they’re a

hell of a lot less dangerous. In the long run,

I’d actually help save more people by killing

some now." It made a grin of tombstone

teeth. "You’re right, though. The magicians

are holding us back because they’re afraid of

us. Afraid that we’re better than them, or that

we’ll supplant them. That’s the truth the

Klide have recognized. We have the greater

potential. The mages should be thanking us

for picking up the ball they dropped. As soon

as I’m strong enough, I’ll make them regret

their stupidity. The world needs us more than

it needs them. Ruling from the shadows,

looking down on the rest of us—that’s going

to end."

Daniel stared. The Smasher was

completely and utterly off his rocker. Maybe

he had a point about the magicians, but the

rest of it was ridiculous. "You’re insane. Do

you even hear what you’re saying? What are

you, Hitler?"

"Unlike Hitler, I can actually back up my

claims of superiority."

"If you tried something like that, every

magician on the planet would come for your

head."

"Which is why I haven’t. Anyway, it

was nice talking to one of my own kind and

all, but killing you would give me too big of

a boost to ignore. Nothing personal." It

lunged forward.

Daniel dashed just out of its reach. It

grabbed for him again. Daniel stepped to the

side, jumped over its arms, and caught it

right in the face with his mace.

Their powers clashed. Daniel’s white-

charged sparks flew against the monster’s

shiny grey aura. The force pushed them back

apart.

Daniel looked at his mace, then back at

the ape. It had a little scrape on its cheek, but

that was all. Its fur had some kind of magical

defense.

The ape cocked his head at him. "Is that

all you’ve got? I’ve had worse from

mosquitoes."

He needed to get a sense of how strong

this guy was before he laid all his cards on

the table. Daniel jumped in to bait an attack.

It threw a fist like a pile driver. Daniel

skipped back, and the beast’s fist hit the

ground.

The crack of broken rock echoed off the

buildings. Fissures opened in the street. A

geyser of water blasted out from a hole in the

sidewalk—and then the dome froze it up, a

gusher of foam stopped in time.

Daniel’s eyes felt like they would pop

out of his skull. The extractor from before

hadn’t smashed through the wall trying to

escape. It had been blown through by the

smasher.

"Scared?" The ape grinned its ugly grin.

"You’re pretty fast, but it’ll only take one

shot for me to kill you."

Daniel’s surprise faded. He smiled

back. "Maybe. I don’t specialize in armor,

really. Speaking of being a contractor, how

many Vorid have you killed?" Daniel asked.

"…what does it matter?"

"I’ve killed over 20 thousand spawn,"

Daniel said. "And that’s not even counting

the extractors."

The Smasher blinked. "20…thousand?"

"Yeah. Being quick helps. Want to see

how quick?" Daniel pressed a strong hunk of

his power into his legs and arms. The plates

of armor on his limbs flared white. The ape

raised its guard high under its chin, watching

him carefully.

Daniel was in its face in half an instant.

He slammed his mace across its nose. It

reeled back, but flailed out with its arms.

Daniel was already gone, dashing behind it.

He caught it on the backside of its head

before it could stop stumbling.

He hit it back, forward, dashing,

striking, beating the ape around like a

punching bag. It spun and growled and

punched, but it couldn’t keep up.

A swiping fist came in. Daniel bent

backward to dodge. At the last second, it

opened its hand, giving it just another few

inches of range. A finger caught him on the

edge of his arm.

It felt like someone had grabbed his

elbow and yanked him to the side at a

hundred miles an hour. Daniel rolled across

the street and slammed into a dumpster at the

head of an alley.

He got to his feet. His armor had

protected him from the collateral damage,

but there was a long, smoking dent where the

Smasher’s finger had touched.

"You feeling nervous yet?" the Smasher

asked. "I would be. I could rip you in half

with one -"

Daniel was in the air over its shoulder

before it could blink. He clotheslined it in

the neck with the bar of his mace. It slammed

back into the street on its back. Daniel

flipped and landed a safe distance away.

The Smasher stood. It put a hand on its

neck. A few fibers of its shaggy mane were

frizzed and torn where Daniel had struck.

"Was that fast enough?" Daniel asked.