DarkLight Redemption: Post-Human Universe - Book One

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I have just a moment to look down and see Whisper arguing with Weston. Gertie is standing behind her while Charles is still positioned behind the machine.

As much as I'd love to hear how that conversation is going, I have more immediate problems.

"We need a plan!" LightBlast yells at me as he deflects several blasts from Mimic.

"This is the plan!" I reply, firing a few bolts in the direction of the blur that was once Blynk.

"Then we need a new plan to save us from your crappy plan!" he shouts.

"Trust me," I tell him, barely trusting myself. "Now get on the ground and draw Blynk's attention," I instruct. "Trix and I will keep Mimic busy."

"Who put you in charge, anyway?"

"Would you rather be in charge?"

He huffs at me and then descends.

Mimic takes a shot at me from behind, but I slide my force field so it bounces off me.

Olive flies in from his other side and lands a few punches that send him spinning through the sky. But it doesn't take very long for him to steady himself.

Olive floats closer to me.

"Seriously, though," she says. "What's the rest of this plan?"

I look down to Whisper and Weston, who are still debating something. Not far away, I spot the kid firing rapidly at Blynk but never really getting close to hitting him. Blynk, however, is landing more shots that I can count.

None of the punches are especially strong, but there are hundreds -- if not more -- being landed in impossibly fast succession. The kid is starting to look a little wobbly, so it's time to get to business.

"Keep him occupied," I tell Olive, pointing at Mimic. "I'll be right back."

Just before I land on the ground, I see LightBlast get ready to lift off.

"Wait!" I yell at him, and he looks at me in utter shock.

"My shields aren't gonna hold much longer!" he says as Blynk hits him a few hundred more times in the next several seconds.

I clench my fist and begin drawing energy around myself.

"On three," I say, still pulling in the juice.

"One."

The energy burned a deeper shade of blue.

"Two."

The force field itself is now noticeably thicker than usual, and I feel like I'm about to lose my grip on it.

"Three!"

LightBlast blasts off into the air. In that same instant, I release the energy I'd been drawing in as a wave in all directions.

Even Blynk didn't see it coming, and the impact slams him into a concrete wall, knocking him out.

I check behind me to see if the wave got the machine as well, only to see Charles holding up two hands. He put up a protective wall before the energy wave could hit Whisper, Weston and the machine.

Even as brainwashed automaton, he's a lot better at this than I am.

All eyes seem to be on me, and I feel like things are about to go to the next level. Then I hear a crash on the ground behind me. I turn and see Olive crater out. Mimic must have hit her with a powerful blast.

"You okay?" I ask her.

"Could be worse," she says as she stands and dusts herself off. "At least he didn't try to eat my head."

LightBlast and Mimic are circling each other and firing short bursts. Mimic deflects one, drops his altitude and stops glowing. He then flies back up and nails the kid under the chin with a big left.

He stops siphoning Olive's power, starts glowing blue again and hits LightBlast with an energy blast while he's still spinning.

The kid hits the ground right in front of us and shakes his head from side to side.

"Nice job with Blynk," he begrudgingly admits. "What've you got for this guy?"

"Trix, take off," I command.

"What?" she replies defensively.

"Not too far -- just far enough so Mimic forgets about you for a minute," I continue. "Me and the kid are gonna hit him from here. When the moment's right, you take him out from behind."

"How will I know it's the right moment?"

"I'll signal you," I say as Mimic flies toward us in an offensive posture. "Now go!"

She's just gone out of sight when I turn back to LightBlast.

"Continuous blast -- and give him a strong dose of the stuff," I say and then float a few more feet away from him.

The kid lets loose with it, and Mimic beefs up his force field at the point of attack. I hit him from the other side, and he thickens his shields on my side as well.

I have to believe that, if he was in control of his own faculties, Mimic would be making a run for it. Luckily for us, his last order was to kill us, not run away from us.

His shields are thinning out in the spaces that we're not hitting, so I look at Olive.

She doesn't even need my signal as she zooms in from behind Mimic. He turns his head just in time to catch a shot that breaks through the thinner portion of his force field.

Mimic hits the ground like an anvil, and it's lights out for him, too. I could almost smile if I didn't know what was coming next.

It's either gonna be Grytlepletarch or MasterBlaster. Regardless of which, we're about to jump up a weight class.

But they both still seem to be watching Whisper and Weston's argument. Whisper is screaming herself hoarse while Weston still seems utterly nonplussed.

"Consider this my resignation!" she finally yells and turns to Charles. "Destroy it!"

Charles fires a point-blank blast at the machine, but it bounces off, and a dark blue dome suddenly forms around Weston's machine.

Weston breaks out into a wide smile that chills me to my core. I've seen him smirk and grin his way through conversations and indictments. But this is the sort of smile that a child gets when he unwraps the greatest, most unexpected Christmas gift ever -- if that child was maniacally power-hungry and possessed by a demon.

"Yesssssssss," he hisses through his teeth.

I fire another blast at Whisper, knowing that taking her out will free Charles's mind, and right now, his mind is the only thing that can save us all.

But my blast is deflected by a giant, paddle-shaped construct as if it was nothing more than a tennis ball.

Whisper turns to us, all of her venom now redirected. "Get them," she orders.