They came down as two matching beams of red in a small clearing. The red came down breaking branches and tree leaves in the process. When they came down, they were immediately blasted by the humidity. Like stepping through a thick fog of raw moisture. And wearing a proper button up and slacks was not a good situation for Marco. Kathryn at the very least had a short sleeve shirt and shorts so she could manage.
Marco let out a breath and wiped his forehead panting. “Okay. I did not think this one through before we came here.”
Kathryn gasped as well fanning herself, “Me either. Where the heck is this alien so we can get out of here.”
Marco nodded and held his hand out. His stone manifested over his palm and he started to interact with it before the ground shook. They both stumbled spreading their arms trying to catch themselves. They both looked toward the sky and saw the ship appear above their heads. It blocked out the sun halfway and a group of birds took to the sky scattering away.
Both of them looked up together and watched the ship passing them by. It zoomed up into the atmosphere and they watched a shape shoot down into the forest. Marco shielded his eyes and made a face, “You see that?”
“Sure did,” Kathryn replied. “Hey. Hey Marco. It’s time.”
“Time?”
“Let’s go to work!” she winked at him.
He looked at her and smiled letting his arms fall, “Really?” She nodded enthusiastically. “Isn’t that me and Jack’s thing?” She beamed and shrugged her shoulders. “Go ahead.”
They both raised their hands with a flourish and their stones appeared in their palms. “Let’s go to work!” Rotating their arms, they flashed their colors and then when that faded they were wearing their armor. “That is so much fun to say.” she said glancing at him.
Marco turned toward her and laughed, “It is a fun thing to do. I blame Jack.”
“I’ll thank him later.”
With that the two of them sprinted together going through the trees. With their armor on and their stones pulsing the jungle might as well not have existed. They traveled through it like they had been borne amongst the limbs and tree leaves. They traveled miles in only a few moments and found the spot where the alien crashed landed.
They ran together feeling the ground slope down around them quickly going downhill. As they ran, they realized that there was a pseudo path in the ground. The mud and trees trampled away by animals much bigger than them.
Marco tapped his helmet and shoved his arm out, “Hey Kat slow down.”
She was ahead of him, jumping through the branches getting some vision ahead of time. She stopped suddenly at his call though. She turned around glancing to him as he ran toward the tree just under her. He held his hand out slowly and then ducked quickly as a metal disk flew over their heads and chopped a tree down and brought it down.
Kathryn shuddered holding on tightly and narrowed her eyes. “Alright what the heck was that?”
Marco crouched then stood up a little straighter and saw the shimmer on the air. He saw a shape move and then jumped to the side as a beam of energy tore through the air. He watched another tree collapse with a loud thunder crackle and his eyes widened again. He looked at the source of the energy but whatever was over there was gone.
He stood slowly hands up slightly. He stopped and listened hearing the cracking of branches, the sizzle of the heat on the air. Standing upright entirely he glanced back and forth heard a loud crack of a branch. Whirling to face it he stopped and jumped backwards as an energy buzz saw whirled through the air, barely missing him.
“What’s going on Marco? I can barely see what’s going on from up here!”
“I think I’m being hunted,” Marco said slowly.
“By what?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Marco drew his gun and raised his hand. “Watch my back. If you see your chance take it.”
Kathryn nodded, staying among the trees and narrowing her eyes. She saw where Marco was looking but she looked behind him and adjacent to him. She saw the wind moving across the grass and the trees. But then she saw the actual movement beyond them. A weird shimmer in the air.
Narrowing her eyes, she brought her staff into existence. The shimmer became solid suddenly and she watched a bug creature with six arms raise two claws. It clicked them together and then seemed to pull on an invisible string that went taught. Across the field she saw the flash of light before a missile flew right at him. As it flew the alien was already moving toward him.
Shoving the staff into the ground she launched herself toward the alien. Marco whirled around and rotated the revolver setting it on blue. He fired a blue bullet and a giant shield appeared taking the brunt of the explosion.
The insect seemed to swear as it ran but then jerked its head upward as Kathryn came down. Her staff clanked into its head and knocked the helmet clean off its head. She landed right on top of it and kept her staff pointed at its head, the tip of the staff glowing. She smirked looking down.
“Where’re you going friend?”
It chittered at her aggressively and her helmet couldn’t fully translate it. Though she did recognize a word that was repeated over and over. She raised her eyebrow confused and then watched it beat its chest with all six arms. And then something flashed on her display, a giant red exclamation point hovering over her mask.
She connected the dots very quickly and crossed her arms in front of her face getting covered in blue light. Suddenly there was just a blast zone in front of her and no more alien guy. That wasn’t entirely true. She had a piece of an arm hanging off her shoulder and she was covered in a new liequid. Shuddering she gently picked it off over her and threw it away.
“You okay?” Marco asked running over.
She glanced at him and even through the helmet he could see her cringing, “I don’t know who or what Zarg is but I fucking hate them.”
The Harlequin Library 