Page 30 of Remnants: Disruption
“Look,” I raise my hands in supplication. “I’ll get a ride home. I overheard the plans you have with Anthony. We both need to cool off. Thank you for dinner, seriously.”
I turn on my heel, heading in the general direction of my apartment.
“The fuck you are,” Percy’s quick footsteps behind me are the only warning before she grips at my elbow, turning me to face her again.
“There’s three spirits behind you,” I say, nodding towards where the three disfigured corpses stand just over Percy’s shoulder. “Either those are the real deal or my mind is gone.”
Percy almost looks behind her, but catches herself.
“You know what I discovered today?” I ask, feeling myself ramping up to a full-on crash out.
“W—” she doesn’t even get the word out before I push on.
“That the NCPD is instructed to Contain meshould the stressors of my powers become too much,” I say, mocking their corporate speak.
I gesture at the figures behind her.
“That looks like toofuckingmuch to me,” my voice cracks with anger, frustration, and unbelievable heartache. “So, you want to know why I don’t tell you these things?”
Her worried expression might have stopped me in the past—but not now.
“Because I’m fucking worried my token might get spent, Percy,” spittle flies as I hiss out her name. “When do I outlive my usefulness?”
Before she can respond, something hits me like a fucking truck.
Chapter 16
Exposed
Eleven P.M., October 23rd, 1030 A.D.
SitRep:Omen attack in the New Chicagoan Badlands.Involved Ursa Major Personnel:Commander Persephone De Luca.Report:REDACTEDOutcome:Dismemberment
NC Militia Database, 1024 A.D.
Fuck,” I cry out, sliding a few inches. Whoever hit me bounces off with a masculine grunt.
I turn to see Percy get laid out as well, her more human body cartwheels deeper into the backstreet. She slides a few feet before laying still. Panic flashes through my mind before my senses take over. She’s alive. That much I can tell.
“No one here to save you now,” a voice growls from the mouth of the alley. “No supers to rescue you.”
My eyes adjust to the darkening light as four figures filter into the passage. Each looks larger than the one before—and at the front is one I know all too well.
“Triggerman,” I say, trying my best to sound cowered. With any luck, we’ll get out of this with only a few bruises. They only want information—they can have it.
“Oh, no quips about my name tonight?” he scowls, voice reedy but not radiating the fear he’d shown last night.
“Wait,” I say, glancing down at his right hand. Sure enough, he’s yet to get a prosthetic. A gun-looking device has manifested in his remaining hand. It’s still shakier, but I imagine he’s capable of causing damage all the same. “We don’t want any trouble. Whatever you’re wanting to know, we’ll spill it.”
I look behind me at where Percy lays. Her chest moves slowly, but her eyes are still closed.
The other three goons around Triggerman chuckle darkly.
One looks to be made almost entirely of flesh-colored rock. Pebbles fall off his body as his shirtless torso ripples and flexes. His hand idly rubs at his left shoulder like he’d struck something.
“You the one who hit me?” I ask, turning my attention on him.
He bares his teeth at me, looking more like a humanoid boulder than anything sentient.
