The First: EVO Uprising (22 page)

Through blood-blurred vision, Hard-On could see that the damage he had done to the female titan’s face had already healed as she dug her feet in, locked her arms, and hoisted him high into the air.
 

“
Oh shit!” Adrian yelled.
 

 
He kept the lock on increasing the tightness hoping to bring her down into a brain dead state or snap her neck. Nachzehrer continued to gurgle and giggle through the hold as she hoisted him higher and drove him once again into the street creating another crater.

“
What’s that? You like that?” she screamed. “You want more? Okay!”
 

Nachzehrer roared as she snapped him high once again into the air, this time coiling her legs like a spring, she leapt into the air as if flying off with him. The force of her leap sent them several stories up before beginning a downward descent back down into Times Square. Hard-On rifled away at Nachzehrer busting her open again fighting to get free as she continued to laugh at him refusing to let go. Those still brave enough to be in the Square or too terrified to move found either fear or courage to run for their lives as a freefalling powerbomb sent both Nachzehrer and Hard-On through the concrete. Debris flew everywhere as the two combatants disappeared into the depths and darkness of Manhattan.  
 

High above, the Manhattan sky was ablaze with fire and lighting as Blitz and “fire witch” battled jockeying for position in an attempt to bring one another down. Jiang Shi screamed a war cry as she unleashed a blast of metal melting flames at him, which he easily evaded. He returned with an onslaught of electricity, which she quickly dodged remembering that she was immune from the burn but not the jolt of his deadly lightning attacks.
 

Humans below ran for sanctuary as “gods” warred over their heads.
 

 “
It is only matter of time before I turn you into ashes!”
screamed Jiang Shi, “I’ll drink your boiling blood from your chard skull!”
 

“
Not if I take your head off first!” roared Oliver.
 

He charged Jiang Shi with great speed remembering he could not go full power due to the people and buildings around him. She nervously unleashed a full blast of flames to stop him, but he barreled through it and came out on the other side swinging at full force to take her head off with his fist; she barely ducked the electrically charged punch. The sheer force exploded bricks while melting the glass and metal of the building that was behind her when she evaded the blow.
 

“
You’re… you’re mad,” uttered a shaken Jiang Shi.
 

“
And you’re a dead woman, you murderous bitch,” Oliver returned.
 

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

Back in the crater, Abe losing his sidearm to an ax wielding Draugr, now wielded a knife as he ducked and dodged the Draugr’s chops and swings in an effort to slice the trained Marine in half. It was not the first time Rogers had someone swing a blade at him. It was also obvious to him that the Draugr, despite his massive size, strength, and berserker rage was not a trained Viking warrior reborn. Rogers proved he was a clumsy oath that saw too many Conan movies as he found an opening and shot for his legs. Rogers did not need much strength to perform a basic lift. He tried his best to make sure it hurt as he slammed him onto his back.
 

On his back once again, the Draugr was on the defensive as Rogers began cutting, slashing, and stabbing any body part within range of his blade. The Draugr’s metal armor, which had the feel of tank armor, was no match the highly tempered dark metal knife Rogers wielded.
 

Rogers slashed and stabbed, looking for a weak point,
but the Draugr’s regenerative healing quickly repaired what he cut open. The blood that poured made the brawl slippery and sticky. Draugr roared as he founded an opening with his right hand and palmed Rogers face looking to crush his skull. It would have worked with a less experienced man. Rogers retaliated by stabbing and pulling down cutting the tendons in his arm. The Draugr roared in pain and rage as Rogers pulled his face from his mitt locking in a side armbar in hopes of breaking the big man’s arm making it completely immobile, long enough so that he could figure out how to kill him.
 

It appeared Rogers did not cut deep enough, because the stronger Draugr growled as he balled his fist and flexed to prevent his arm from being hyper-extended. He then fought to his feet lifting Rogers stilled attached to his arm as if he was a small infant.

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

Back up top Rosann was not fairing too well, her heighted senses could barely keep up with the Ghoul’s speed and viciousness. For every lunge, swipe, and pounce she executed he would dodge and evade coming back harder and faster.
 

“
Here, puss puss! Puss puss!” he taunted her.
 

He was toying with her; he finally went for a blitz attack coming in at blinding speed swinging his razor sharp blades at her. Her leotard bodysuit withstood the glancing blows that could have sliced her open; however, the Ghoul also targeted her exposed legs. Her current dense animal physiology kept her standing. Rosann tried to go into a feral rage of her own to fight back, but a faster Ghoul drove one of his eight-inch machetes into her gut. Rosann’s eyes went wide with sheer pain, out of instinct she grabbed Ghoul’s right arm as she slowly transformed back into her human form. A now stronger Ghoul grinned as he slowly hoisted a bloodied Rosann high into the air causing her to sink deeper into the blade. Rosann spat blood into Ghouls face as she gripped his hand to keep herself from being further impaled.
 

“
Mmmmm my favorite BBQ sauces,” He licked some of the blood from his face, “now… what should I sample… first?”
 

Out of nowhere, Rosann began to giggle.

“
Pray tell, what do
you
find so funny about me about to slice, eat, and then fuck what’s left of your skewered ass, cunt?” Ghoul asked with a screwed up face.
 

“
Da fact that I now have your abilities,” she grinned, “ya dumb cazzo.”
 

“
Wha… the…” Ghoul wore a perplexed look on his face not understanding her meaning.
 

It was then that Ghoul noticed that Rosann’s initial wounds were healing at a rapid pace, as her skin, hair, and eye color changed to match his own. Before he could react, Rosann now with superhuman speed and strength at her disposal used the seconds of advantage she had to drive a vicious foot into his face shattering his nose while launching herself off his blade. The kick sent a completed stunned Ghoul crashing into a parked taxi caving it in, while Roxann went crashing into a heap onto the streets of NYC. She spat up more blood while holding her gut allowing the regenerative healing to repair the damage done. It was not healing fast enough as a now very livid Ghoul pulled himself out of the cab blowing a huge wad of blood from his already healed nose. He now brandished his blades with murderous intent.
 

“
I’m gonna enjoy cutting your twat out and eating it,” he snarled.
 

“
You couldn’t handle my twat, speedy,” Rosann sneered.
 

Ghoul roared, charging to slice her to ribbons only to freeze into place for some unknown reason; a look of fear now appeared on his face as she realized he could not move at all. Rosann finally got to her feet giving him a sarcastically innocent, yet devious, look.
 

“
Sumatta gov?” Rosann mocked his English accent. “Cat gotcha tongue?”
 

As a huge shadow casted over her and him, Roxann sped out of the way. The last thing she heard was Ghoul screaming as something massive came crashing down on top of him creating another huge crater in the street sending debris flying everywhere. Standing tall in the massive crater and on top of what was left of him, was Lady Tech in her battle armored mech suit ready to join the fight with the rest of her team.
 

“
So, what did I miss?” Erica’s voice emitted out of her S.A.M’s audio system.
 

Rosann sped back to the crash zone standing before her.

“
What took you so long?” she yelled at her.
 

“
I’m sorry!” Lady Tech yelled back, “I had a ship to pilot!”
 

“
Hello!” Rosann threw her hands up. “You got voice-activated autopilot with Maxine!”
 

“
Hey! I’m down here!” She pointed at her. “You’re alive, and this asshole is a pancake! Get over it!”
 

“
Where the hell is Hard-On?” Rosann cut her eyes.
 

A large explosion shook the streets again as the ground opened up with a body that went flying pass the two of them. They watch as it landed hard taking out a cop car. The body belonged to a battered and pissed off Nachzehrer. She slowly rolled herself off the destroyed police car. Out of the hole crawled an equally disheveled Hard-On ready to brawl.
 

“
Damn crazy psycho bitch,” he snarled.
 

“
Nice of you to come out of the gutter and join us,” Lady Tech greeted him.
 

“
Hell happened to you?” Adrian asked his sister who was covered in blood.
 

“
Where should I start?” Rosann sighed. “The part where the son of a bitch tried to slice me like an onion or when he stuck me like a shish kabob?”
 

“
Say what?” he howled. “Where da fuck is he?”
 

“
Tech’s standing on him,” Rosann pointed.
 

“
Oh… oh… god,” Ghoul whimpered.
 

“
Good for you ya piece of…” Hard-On spat on him.
 

“
Enough, I’m all right thanks to that sick bastard’s regenerative healing,” Rosann reassured her brother. She turned to Lady Tech. “How’d you manage to stop him? I thought Mercurians where immune to mental attacks.”
 

“
Low level mental attacks,” Erica corrected, “my suit boosts my abilities to the level of a pure breed, that’s how they were able to
kill Seeker and Captain Omega.”
 

“
But, that would mean they have a kid on their team,” Adrian stood there stunned.
 

“
Exactly,” Lady Tech said. “The creepy micro monk over there ain’t a little person.”
 

“
That’s some sick shit man,” he shivered, “how come he or she’s not freezing us?”
 

“
One, I’m mentally tethered to all four of you allowing me to both block and jam his signal with one of my own,” Erica answered, “and two despite his vast power, he’s obviously a noob. He has basic knowledge of his abilities but nothing advanced.”  
 

A loud booming sound cut the team’s conversation short as debris flew out of the massive crater Rogers and the Draugr waged their war within.
 

“
Oh shit,” Adrian snapped his neck looking at the crater.
 

“
We’re standing here flippin our bicks and the Sarge is fighting for his life in there!” yelled Rosann. “Wait, where’s Blitz?”
 

A high-pitched scream followed a fireball hurling from the sky that detonated on top of a white Mercedes Benz obliterating it. A badly battered, shaken, and smoldering Jiang Shi rolled out of the flames unscathed as a Blitz slowly descended from the skies. His outfit displayed burn marks from her flame attacks.
 

“
Now dat’s gangsta,” Adrian nodded.
 

“
You think I fear death boy,” Jiang Shi spat blood at him shivering, “I have a throne waiting for me next to my dark lord! And when I return as one of his concubines… I shall bathe in fire and your blood!”
 

Oliver charged his hands causing the very air in his vicinity to heat up to unbelievable temperatures. Glass from nearby windows cracked unable to bear the heat as the concrete around him smoldered. Though Jiang Shi was immune to the heat, there was evidence of fear on her face knowing what the electrical charge could do to her. Blitz’s plasma form as well as the electrical charge he emitted changed to a bright blue and white color that shattered glass and blew out any electrical device around him as he prepared to deliver a killing blow.  
 

“
That’s new,” Hard-On cocked an eyebrow.
 

“
And very bad!” yelled Erica. “The fire witch’s cells are like nitroglycerin! At that power level Blitz could ignite them and…”
 

“
Blow up all of Times Square,” Rosann finished her sentence. “Oliver, no!”
 

“
Here’s a first class ticket to hell!” howled Oliver.
 

Before Blitz could unleashed the full force of his power
down on Jiang Shi, Rosann using the superhuman speed she stole from Ghoul darted into his path holding her hands up for him to stop. She screamed and gyrated in pain unable to withstand the massive surge of heat and electricity he was unleashing. Ghoul’s regenerative healing was the only thing that kept her from death by electrocution. Oliver powered down and grabbed her as she collapsed.
 

“
Rosann!” Oliver yelled frantically, “What the…”
 

“
Can’t… kill her…” Rosann stuttered violently shaking, “like that… you’ll destroy city… if you do…”