The First: EVO Uprising (24 page)

“
Say what?” Erica turned to the sound of a war cry.
 

She raised a block in time to deflect a savage blow from the Draugr’s recovered sword sending sparks flying against its dark metal armor.
 

“
You got to be freaking kidding me!” Erica screamed.
 

Lady Tech retaliated with a devastating left hook staggering him. He, however, quickly recovered swinging his battle-ax, which also sparked across Lady Tech’s armor; she does not even bother blocking as she followed
through caving in the mad Titan’s chest with a right haymaker lifting him off his feet and through the window of a nearby Duane Reade.
 

She would find no breathing room, now back on the defensive as she barely dodged and evaded Wendigo’s vicious sonic attacks backed by energy strikes from a now airborne Revenant joining the battle. She returned fire unleashing powerful ionic plasma rounds from the gauntlets of her S.A.M.
 

Revenant grinned as he evaded two of the volleys and swatted the third one away with the help of the protective purple energy shielding that looked like an aura bathing him. He returned fire, which Erica tanked with her own shielding and armor. However, each hit she took weakened her own energy shield.
 

“
Magnetic deflector shielding at eight percent,” relayed Maxine, “power levels at…”
 

“
Maxine, I love you, but I need you to shut the hell up!” Lady Tech yelled. “Just keep the display up and let me fight!”
 

“
Incoming vehicle at nine o’clock!” Maxine blurted out.
 

Erica spun around quick enough to punch a flying squad car in two, only for the monstrous Draugr to tackle her lifting Lady Tech off her feet and slamming her into the street. He followed up by raining down thunderous blows eager to crack the armor shell protecting her. Inside Erica rattled back and forth in her seat by the earthquake like blows.

“
Get this son of a bitch off me!” she screamed.
 

“
Yes ma’am,” complied Maxine. “S.A.M take over and protect her at all costs.”
 

The S.A.M. armor emitted an animal like growl as it took over its body. It coiled its legs and fired them like
twin pistons kicking the Draugr in the midsection sending him through a building on the other side of the street. It sprung back to its feet as a shaken Erica fought to get keep it together.
 

Within the cockpit she sat in waist-deep blood with the severed heads of her fellow teammates floating around her while snakes hung about the place. The psychological work of the one named Anchimayen attempting to break her will.
 

“
Get out of my head you little shit,”
Lady Tech ordered.
 

“
You know you’re going to die here,”
Anchimayen
hissed
, “you and your friends are all going to die… and waiting for you in hell are an infinite number of demons and beasts waiting to…”
 

“
The only thing waiting for me is the chance to put my foot up your scrawny little nasty ass,”
responded
Lady Tech, “
and cram a bar of soap down that filthy little mouth of yours. Now get the fuck out of my head!”
 

Pushing her mental abilities to the max, she was able to force him out of her psyche, removing the disturbing illusions.
 

“
Incoming attacks from all sides, unable to evade,” Maxine dictated.
 

Fighting to defend its creator, the S.A.M began to map out the best plan of attack to deal with the incoming threats, while inside a battered, bloodied, and drained Erica recovered from the exhausting mental battle.
 

The shoulder compartments of the S.A.M opened up unleashing a barrage of mini concussion missiles targeting both Wendigo and Revenant. They were not enough to knock them out of the sky, but they drove them backwards scattering them.

It gave it breathing room to deal with the Draugr and
Nachzehrer attacking from the front and back like mountain lions pouncing on a kill.
 

It waited for the last second to move performing a spinning technique evading and ringing the Draugr’s bell with a spinning hammer fist sending him crashing to the ground. Nachzehrer  was able to jump onto the S.A.M’s back, but in one single motion it jumped backwards falling on its back crushing her in between it and the concrete.
 

She screamed letting go as it rolled back to its feet. Painfully she rolled to her hands and knees as it now stood over her. Taking aiming, its right forearm opened up firing another version of the Nerve Hammer hitting Nachzehrer in the back at point blank range pounding her again into the concrete.

Four sides of the disk device popped open revealing four malleable mechanical limbs that locked around her back and torso.

As she attempted to rise again a needle from the disk pierced her back touching her spinal column. The disk lit up and it channeled several thousand volts of current through her nervous system sending Nachzehrer into eye rolling writhing pain.

Once again it activated its electromagnetic propulsion whisking her away into the skies toward the hovering Tornado.

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

Fourteen blocks up from 42
nd
Street, Adrian finally came to with a groan on top of an abandon Nissan Maxima he had totaled on impact. He pulled himself off it and staggered to his feet still in his metal form, which saved his life.  He now stood within the upper West Side that was now a ghost town. Not a soul was on the streets. The innocent either fled for their lives or hid from the hell happening in Times Square that might come their
way. The only things around him were abandoned vehicles.
 

He could hear the fighting still taking place, and had to get back to his teammates fast.

He looked around and found an abandoned red and black Ducati Monster 696.

“
Maxine,” Adrian walked over pulling up the bike. “Can you hear me?”
 

“
Yes, Adrian,” Maxine answered from his headset. “The Miss is currently in battle with the members of the Zombie Nation by herself.”
 

“
I’m on my way,” he said hopping on the bike, “Can you hotwire this bike for me?”
 

Without answering Maxine patched into the bike’s computer turning it on. Hard-On revved up and gunned the bike down the Avenue of the America’s making a quick right on 53
rd
street to take Seventh Avenue back to Times Square.
 

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

Abe came to clutching the M1 Ballistics rifle still in his grip. He stood up on instinct aiming and scanning his surroundings, which appeared to be the inside of a Broadway theater.

He shot up to his feet looking for the exit.

“
Maxine,” he barked. “What’s the situation?”
 

“
Sir, Miss is currently in combat with three remaining members of the Zombie Nation,” Maxine relayed. “Hard-On is enroute, no response from Rosann or Blitz.”
 

Rogers smashed through the steel exit door of the theatre triple timing it back to the heart of Times Square on foot.

“
I’m on my way,” he huffed.
 

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

Back at Times Square, Erica was far from safe as Revenant evaded, destroyed, and tanked her missile attack with a purple and black energy shielding. He came back using the same energy as an offensive weapon firing volleys at her.
 

  
The S.A.M. spun, ducked, and dodged the barrages that tore chunks into the streets and buildings in Times Square.
 

“
EVO is firing dark matter energy,” Maxine confirmed. “Shielding will not hold if hit by such an energy attack. S.A.M. employing evasive maneuvers.”
 

The feet and back thrusters of the S.A.M ignited launching it into the air. It rolled and strafed between the buildings to evade his attacks. Able to maneuver above him, it opened fired with a full ion plasma stream from both the its gauntlets.
 

It put Revenant back on the defensive throwing up another circular energy shielding to block the attack.

The S.A.M. prepared to unleash another salvo of missiles upon him when it was viciously rattled from a long range sonic attack from Wendigo.
 

“
Shielding down to five percent…” Maxine indicated.
 

Before the S.A.M. could attempt to recover from the sonic blast, it was struck from a powerful direct hit from Revenant knocking it into a tailspin out of the sky.
 

“
Shields disabled… unable recover… impact is imminent…” Maxine relayed.
 

Lady Tech hit the streets of New York hard sending rubble flying everywhere. Her crash landing produced another large crater where she came to a rest. Red lights
went off in the cabin as Erica sat barely conscious in her seat.
 

“
Come on big boy… get up and shake it off,” she commanded.
 

Obeying her orders, her armor fought back to its feet where it found no breathing room as the Draugr came crashing down on top of it driving it further into the crater. The S.A.M. swung for the hills, but a faster Draugr caught its right haymaker holding it in his grip while using his right boot to pin its left arm. He drooled under his cracked helmet as he reached for the chest plate of the S.A.M. armor and proceeded to pull.
 

“
Draugr attempting to breach hull, integrity of armor being compromised,” reported Maxine, “S.A.M. attempting to power Ion chest cannon.”
 

Erica braced herself for the worst, tears ran down her eyes as she fought not to cry nor scream; faced with meeting a most gruesome end she wanted Rogers to know that she did not run, she did not beg for mercy, that she was a soldier.

“
Extremely high energy source inbound to our location!” Maxine responded.
 

“
Blitz?” Erica screamed.
 

“
Negative,” Maxine answered. “Something much more powerful.”
 

 
Lady Tech rolled her eyes wondering what next as a thunderous noise took over the creaking sound of the Draugr trying to breach her cockpit.  The monstrous behemoth paused his dismantling of her mech just in time to receive a hit to the face with what appeared to be a golden staff charged with an unknown power source. The blow was deafening on impact forcing Erica to cover her ears as it launched the blood driven juggernaut into the air, through several buildings sailing over the Hudson River. He crash landed into a small Yacht on the New Jersey side.

Erica slowly opened her eyes getting a visual of her savior.

“
Oh my god…” she stammered.
 

That is what she believed stood before her, Egyptian to be more specific. His armor shined a bright silver and gold with blood red accents as he looked like an amalgamation of an Egyptian Pharaoh and a character from the 1994 Stargate movie.  The long snakehead staff with an emblem of the sun shining behind it that he held in his hand matched the gold and blood red parts of his armor.  A bladed crescent moon capped off the end of his staff. Erica also noticed that the back of his headdress had a long golden scorpion tail that hung like a braid.
 

His bright white glowing eyes added to his demigod stature while his humble dark brown smile made Erica’s heart flutter in the midst of the chaos all around her.  
 

“
Status on new player,” Erica asked.
 

“
Unknown,” Maxine reported. “I am unable to get a reading on individual, his armor, or weapon. Unknown energy shielding is deflecting my scans. From what my scans can diagnose, energy he is emitting is on a cosmic level.”
 

 “
You mean like comic book,” Lady Tech swallowed.
 

“
I mean like remnants from the first ‘Big Bang’ Miss,” Maxine elaborated.
 

Revenant descended to street level hovering. He clapped bringing Erica out of her school girl crush, and turned her golden prince’s smile into a scowl as he turned to face the leader of the Zombie Nation.
 

“
Bravo… Bravo… a very impress display of power,” Revenant beamed. “And may I ask who might you be?”
 

He did not answer gripping his staff as he stood between him and Erica. To his right he could feel Wendigo also hovering about in a vibrating field of sonic energy itching to attack as well.

“
Let me guess, the strong silent type,” Revenant scoffed, “you play it very well… but we all know this isn’t a comic book. The Draugr will be back any minute now, more enraged than ever. Carving a path of destruction right to you for embarrassing him, and while you managed to take all of us by surprise with that little light show of yours, I highly doubt despite that lucky shot that you are a match for me, Wendigo, or worse all three of us combined.”
 

In the middle of his speech, Rosann zoomed in standing next to a recovering Lady Tech.
 

Not far away Hard-On sped through the streets of Manhattan on the Ducati he borrowed, while Rogers sprinted at unimaginable speeds to get back himself.