The Girl With Green Scales: A Gen M Novel

Chapter 36: Better than a Comic Book

Caitlin taps more orders into her on-the-go and sends more loyalist protectors to the roof to die. I hear their screams through the comm link. Caitlin turns to me.

"Now we go," she says.

"Wait," I say, looking at her swipe pad. "For this rebellion to work, everyone on Jupitar Island needs to know the truth."

This was why I let Caitlin knock me out, to get in here, to get proof—I hope.

"They need to hear your story," Caitlin agrees.

"I'm going to need more than that, and more than what the auditor said," I insist. How do I begin to explain truenews or the authentication process? "Can you tap into the Protectorate data system with your on-the-go?"

"It's Normand's on-the-go," Caitlin corrects. "I sometimes think it can do pretty much anything."

"Sounds like he's practically a technius. I wish he could meet my friend Mairī Lin. Okay, here's what I need you to look for ..."

Caitlin nods in understanding and activates strange-looking icons on Normand's swipe pad. My face darkens at the data it calls up of mutant after mutant attack on the boroughs—not just the girl spider the original Anton futilely tried to save, but thousands more over the years.

"Those bastards," I whisper. We were supposed to be Gen M, not lab rats.

My anger is quickly replaced by fear. Growls and barks filter down through the vents. Caitlin and I look to each other.

"They've brought in animalistics," Caitlin says.

Can they follow my tracks?

My webbed hands tremble. "If they catch me ..."

"Follow me," Caitlin says.

The Caitlin I grew up with was clumsy and awkward. That girl is gone. We get as far as a stairwell when we encounter three protectors, weapons raised. Caitlin's hand is a blur, firing a trio of shots from her blaster. The protectors fall dead at our feet. I make a note to never call Caitlin Puddle Pants again.

We climb through a ventilation shaft and emerge into another hall. A battalion confronts us. There are too many for Caitlin. I coil and camouflage, taking them out with my tail, claws, and fangs. Caitlin nods, impressed. There's no time to gloat.

I turn. A massive Supergenic animalistic bounds toward us. He/she/ze is bulging muscle covered in silver fur. I narrowly jump and flip over the beast as he/she/ze's tusks savage the wall where I stood. Caitlin shoots it with her blaster. Other than a patch of singed fur, the blaster has no effect. Caitlin fires again. The animalistic yowls and charges.

"You're just pissing it off!" I shout.

Caitlin drops her blaster and types quickly on her on-the-go.

"Come on," she mutters at her gadget, "you'd do this for Normand."

The beast jumps, ready to gut us with its tusks. Emergency doors slam shut in its face. The beast roars and pounds the barrier. The doors bulge. They won't hold long.

"This way," Caitlin says.

We turn a corner, leaving the animalistic behind, and Caitlin pushes open an emergency exit. Outside, the sound of thunder cracks the air and lightning flares in the Yellow Zone.

Surrounding the Protectorate Cube, loyalists and rebels shoot at each other. I pull Caitlin against the building's white panels and point to the sky. Captain Light blazes off the roof and into the air. Small balls of luminescence drop from his body and shoot into the mouths of fighters on both sides. Their bodies glow, and they spasm as the photonic pellets beat them to death from the inside. Captain Light can't tell friend from foe, so he kills them all then floats to the other side of the building.