Hanes moved down the dark hallway, his back not quite
sliding along the wall. The barrel of the riot shotgun probed the darkness,
but the shadows were so deep in the gallery that even his low-light gear
wasn't picking anything up.
"Damn HQ," he thought, "sending me out here with
no one but that freaky kid to back me up. Tell me there's some sort of
armored trooper here, but all we find are blood and body parts. Well, the
kid can just wait till backup shows up. Don't need no test-tube freak with
hopped up reflexes…"
Putting his back to a marble sculpture, Hanes scanned
the hallway behind him. Still nothing. Letting out a quite sigh, leaned
he against the arm of the statue.
Under his hand, he felt the statue's arm tense.
For a long moment his mind froze, and all he could do was stare as the
statue turned its head towards him. Then the low-light gear was flaring
out as it opened it eyes and they were on fire! And it smiled…
Tamin checked his pistol, wishing for the thousandth
time that he had something a little more powerful. Skirting the pools of
blood on the carpet, he walked to the boardroom window, overlooking the
city. AirCiv was supposed to send some gyros, but they still hadn't arrived.
Sighing, he moved back to the table, absently pushing a bloody arm off
onto the floor. Whatever had done this was massively powerful, stronger
even than him…
He spun around at the sound of a shotgun behind
him. Scanning the glass wall of the gallery above, he swept the blunt muzzle
of the Gao 12mm across, looking for targets. A dark shape hurtled at the
glass, and Tamin half-pulled the trigger, the sighting laser lancing out.
Then his eyes widened as Hanes' limp form smashed through, flinging fragments
of glass like shrapnel. Lunging forward with a speed no normal could match
he caught the older cop before he could crash to the floor, but it was
too late. Blood leaked though huge rents in his body armor, and white fragments
of skull showed through the ruin of his face.
The Gao boomed in his hand as he emptied the clip
into the figure in the gallery. Fifteen hits, with enough force to knock
down an elephant, but it had barely shifted. A huge, winged shape like
a gargoyle, its skin a pale grey, it had simply crossed its arms in front
to protect its face. As Tamin tossed the useless gun onto the table it
lowered its arms to look at him. Its face was a twisted mask of constant
rage, lips drawn back from jagged teeth stained with blood. And its eyes…
Tamin took as step back in shock. Its eyes blazed like torches, like the
sun. Tamin's back bumped against the window before he realized he had been
backing away. Flaring its wings like a cape the creature stepped forward,
casually knocking the remaining glass out if the way. It dropped to the
floor like a cat, its massive weight hidden behind a terrible grace no
human would ever achieve.
"Don't fight me… Brother." It snarled. Its voice
grated on Tamin's ears, like it had been played simultaneously on too many
frequencies. "I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to bring you- to our father,
our inheritance. The angry god shall awaken, and we shall rule over all
mankind!" A long blunt tongue flicked out, daintily removing a spot of
someone's blood from the creature's lip. "Delicious… surely you have not
forgotten the taste of blood?"
Color danced around the edges of Tamin's vision.
The doctors had dismissed it as a hyper-adrenal rush, but it had never
been this bad before. His fingertips burned, his back felt like it was
on fire. Tamin could feel every muscle in his body tense like huge springs,
felt his own lips pull back in a snarl. In an instant all of the shadows
in the room disappeared as he prepared to rush forward, to destroy the
focus of his rage.
Behind him he heard a rush of air, like the beating
of many wings and he laughed. AirCiv had taken their damn time, he thought,
but lets see this monster shrug off 30mm cannon shells. The terrible tension
left him in a chill rush, and he turned, expecting to see an AirCiv gyro
hovering outside.
Instead he saw an apparition, a creature of madness.
It was larger than any man, but perfectly formed, with corded muscle wrapped
in flesh that glistened like white marble. 89 stories up, it hung lightly
in the air despite the howling winds, arms folded, wide wings beating lazily
to keep it aloft. An angel. And not a happy one at that. Stern and implacable,
its face showed the wrath of God, and its eyes burned like the sun. For
a moment those eyes held Tamin's, and he took an involuntary step back.
Those eyes had burned into his own, baleful and condemning, as if Tamin
had been the monster, not the creature behind him.
A flicker of movement was all the warning that Tamin
had, the angel moved so fast. One moment it was hovering there and the
next Tamin was throwing himself flat as it crashed through the window.
It felt like a airplane had overflown him, about five feet up.
By the time he looked up it was over. The angel
had simply flown straight through the building, taking the other creature
with it. Awkwardly Tamin peered out the hole on the other side, but could
see no trace of what had happened afterwards. When AirCiv finally did arrive,
he was still standing there, gingerly fingering the edge of a support column
the angel's wing had sheared in it's passing…
Far ahead of the rest of the team, Tamin looked up
at the F-G research building. He smiled in derision as he listened to the
complaints of the humans, laboring under the weight of their weapons and
armor. It was here, he could feel it. This time he would not let Amirra
escape him.
"Baker team, this is CRT control" crackled his radio.
"The target is confirmed. This one may be bad- we have some sort of a giant
here. It's roaming around the upper levels of the research facility…"
"Heh- if bleeds, we can kill it…" quoted one of
the team members, laughing at his own joke.
Tamin snorted in derision.
"Tamin," barked control "you aren't showing up on
my tracking screen. Is your transponder out again? Dammit, how come this
only happens to you? Anyway, Baker team, you will have to reroute through
the checkpoint in sector C in order to get up past the security wall. You
have clearance, the guards will let you past. Move it, though- it’s a long
hike."
Muting his radio input, Tamin looked up at the rising
wall of the research building.
"Checkpoint, hell." he muttered to himself. "Let
them walk it. It'll keep them out if my way…"
Putting away his weapon, triggered the first stage.
A sharp gasp escaped him and he hunched as he began to manifest. His jumpsuit
stretched as his entire frame grew, muscles cording beneath the fabric.
His head snapped back as his eyes ignited into pools of flame. In an instant
the world became clearer, all the shadows disappearing in the red haze.
As he entered the second stage his skin hardened, taking on a sheen like
pale grey marble, and his hands clenched into fearsome claws that could
rip though stone. He let lose a howl of pure rage as he entered the third
stage, face twisted into a mask of fury. The ballistic nylon cloth gave
way as feathered wings grew from his back.
Glancing upwards at the building again, Tamin took
a moment to flex his wide wings. Behind him he heard a gasp, and a couple
of staggering steps. Uttering a curse in a language no mortal understood,
he turned to see Brad Jacobs, a new CRT member, undoubtedly sent to check
on his transponder. On his face the recognition was too obvious to be ignored.
Faster than thought, Tamin had closed the distance before Brad could even
blink. It was over in an instant, body armor parting before his claws like
paper. Staring at the blood on his hands, Tamin realized that he should
feel remorse, but there right now there wasn't enough humanity in him to
really care. Hardly bothering to crouch, he shot upwards like a rocket.
"Too bad God won't help you, Amirra, because nothing
on earth can…"
"Tamin L5 Theta?"
On his way through the squad room, Tamin paused.
Looking back he saw Hugh McAllister standing there, radiating displeasure.
McAllister was fairly high up in the IA department, and had made noise
before about Tamin's unconventional methods.
"Officer Theta, command has some serious concerns
about your performance in the field. Are you aware that you have personally
eliminated more than 75% of the targets that your team has been sent after?
Tactical analysis indicates that you deliberately disperse your squad away
from the target before you move in for the kill!"
With a sigh, Tamin began walking again. He had heard
this all before. It was true, but that didn't really change anything.
"Officer Theta, I am still talking to you!" McAllister
snapped, hurrying to keep up with Tamin's long strides. "There is no way
that you could have tracker malfunctions on every assignment- it is obvious
that you are deliberately making it so that control cannot follow your
movements! And on top of that, how do you manage to destroy your kit so
often? As far as stores can tell, you must be engaging these things in
close combat, except that there is never any blood… Listen mister, this
is the police department, not some sort of hunting club for psycho freaks!"
Without bothering to look, Tamin could tell that
McAllister was turning bright red. Some of it was exertion, as he was puffing
at the pace, but most of it was pure outrage.
"Alright, tough guy. Go ahead and play silent on
me. You are not fucking invulnerable, you know. I am going to recommend
that command take your squad away from you, maybe even take you off point.
Put you under some rational commander, with some common sense. If you prove
that you can follow the rules maybe you'll get your people back, but I
personally doubt it." McAllister was literally spitting mad at this point,
and would undoubtedly be poking Tamin for emphasis if he could reach him.
"I think that once there is someone out there with you that you are supposed
to obey, they are going to see that you are as much of a loose cannon as
the targets you go after. Genetically advanced my ass- I bet you'll be
on our target list soon enough!"
That was enough. They had cleared the squad room,
and were moving through the deserted hallways on their way to the motor
pool. Without warning, Tamin reversed his motion, his hand snapping out
to catch McAllister's neck in a iron grip. McAllister's mouth opened in
shock as he saw Tamin's eyes- they were literally aflame, leaping orange
flames that gave light but no heat.
"Hush, McAllister- calm down…" Tamin's voice no
longer sounded human- it had far more tones than any mortal's. "Let's just
talk this through… I'm sure that everything will make sense in a minute."
As Tamin drove out of the motor pool, McAllister
was still standing in the hallway. "Damn," he thought. "That freak Theta
really pisses me off, but he's a good cop. Goes out, gets the job done,
generally brings everyone back alive. Ah well, I guess he is the lesser
of two evils. I guess I'll have to tell command to leave him in, even though
he scares the piss out of me…"
"Tamin L5 Theta."
Tamin swung around at the flat statement of his
name, reflexively bringing the Gao 12mm to bear, even though the man hadn't
done anything threatening yet. He was large, but not in a threatening way.
Androgynous looking, he had long raven-black hair brushed back from a delicate
face. His eyes were large and expressive, though they were a peculiar shade
of icy grey that made Tamin think of snow.
"I am Tamin R12 Mu." The man stated, smiling as
Tamin blinked in surprise. "The mortals think that Tamin is your name,
and you have been with them so long that you have forgotten that it is
a title, how cute. Tamin- perfect, one without physical blemish. Our father
had such high hopes for you. You were supposed to be his angel, his child
that would be acceptable unto God. Free of the curse of blood. But no,
you are not free of it, are you? You can just control it better than most."
Tamin put the weapon away as the man continued.
"Control it for what? You live among them, protect
them." The man's face twisted into a snarl, making Tamin's hand itch for
the Gao again. "Protect them from us, your brothers! For the sake of pathetic
weaklings that will die in a few short years anyway. I know that you have
seen the angels, that they leave you alone. Is that why you do it? Do you
really think that you can ever become one of them?" He laughed in derision.
" God will never let you into heaven- we are cursed for eternity, and God
has a very long memory. Perhaps you are just afraid? Mortals are afraid-
fear is not an emotion for Nephilim, or angels. Perhaps you have become
that weak. With the deaths of so many of our brothers on your hands, maybe
I should give you something to be afraid of, then…"
Tamin had never seen another Nephilim manifest before,
and it nearly killed him. For a long moment he simply stared as the man's
form thickened, his eyes igniting into pools of flame. Only when his hands
grew vicious claws and wings ripped through his jacket did he recognize
the danger, throwing himself out of the way as the Nephilim blurred towards
him…
"Hey Tamin, man, are you sure that you don't want
more gear than that? I mean, I know that you like to do things your way,
but you should think about taking more firepower."
The speaker himself was a walking arsenal. Bob Lockmeir
was not a big man, but he had been around long enough to know how dangerous
their prey was.
"Look man, they just released these babies to us,
you should take one along." Bob swung the assault cannon out on its swing-arm
support, showing it off like a favored child. "15mm recoilless, on a support
rig with built-in targeting systems. Guaranteed to put a hole through anything
that moves, fucking giant or not. And if it can't, it has an under-barrel
grenade launcher that'll make a real mess of 'em. You really should think
about it, Tamin."
Leaning over the bench to tighten the straps on
his body armor, Tamin chuckled. Next to him lay his own rifle- lethal enough,
though admittedly less impressive than Bob's toy. Everything secure, he
straightened up and moved towards the door.
"I hear you, kiddo, but you know I don't like harness
gun systems. They just slow me down."
Tamin walked past the barriers, into the howling sirens
and lights. Gathering his tattered armor around him, he was careful not to let
anyone see the gaping wound in his side until he could find another jacket to
cover it better. This one had taken a lot to put down, tough enough to bounce
bullets and crush powered exo-armor. In the end he had been forced to manifest
and take it out by hand- nothing else could hurt it. Far too many people had
died trying. If he were mortal, Tamin would have been exhausted, but his immoral
flesh wasn't that weak. It didn't tire, didn't bleed…
A smiling, chattering ape stepped out of the lights, wrapping
a blanket around his shoulders. Tamin didn't recognize him, but he wore the
jumpsuit of a med-tech, and obviously knew enough to not even bother to try
to help someone like him.
"God, what a mess!" exclaimed the tech, patting his shoulder
"I hear you folks really had it tough out there tonight, all the medevacs in
the area have been called in. People getting whacked right and left till you
took it through that window. People say you're tougher than a mac truck, and
harder to stop, but that takes balls. When F-G first gave us you guys, we looked
at what they said you could do and laughed, but after tonight I wonder if there
is anything that you can't do, or won't. Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't
let you into heaven for, though, eh?"
Tamin walked on, pulling the blanket tighter around him,
though he didn't need the warmth. He smiled back at the med-tech, but it was
little more than a show of teeth. Yes, he had done things that would bar him
from heaven, but God wasn't keeping track anyway…