Chapter 181 Die.

Chapter 181: 181 Die.

"Like this one!" Rhea declared, gesturing grandly at a vehicle sitting alone in its own dedicated display bay.

It sported a sleek, matte-black hood and heavily reinforced chrome wheels.

There was plenty of passenger space in the back, and the front grille curled up aggressively under the hood, crisscrossed by thick steel impact bars.

The roof looked like it could seamlessly retract, and resting right at the tip of the hood was a stylized, tasteful chrome skull ornament.

It was a car that looked far less like a tool of the road and entirely like a jackass designed rocket.

"Oh ho ho," I breathed, moving magnetically toward it.

"That’s right, Miles," Rhea said, sitting her firm ass directly on the hood and sweeping a hand lovingly along the wheel hub. "Chrome-based chassis. Military-grade reinforced steel and ballistic glass. And it is just brimming with fun little empty compartments. I could fit so many fucking gadgets into this baby, you would not believe it."

"You think so?" I asked, admiring the aggressive lines of the door panels.

"Oh, yeah! This puppy was practically designed for aftermarket war crimes."

We spent a little longer checking out the rest of the automotive lot, with me actively wincing at the exorbitant price tags attached to some of the models.

Especially the armored, evil-clown ice cream truck that looked like it had recently been shot up in a war zone.

Damn. This whole evil super league plan had better pan out with some major corporate payouts, or I was going to be in the poorhouse before too long.

Well, all I needed was to pick up a massive bounty for our official debut as a villainous organization, and we’d be set.

But until then, and no matter how many times Rhea gave me the pleading puppy-dog eyes, we weren’t buying anything today.

Still, it had been a highly productive survey of our future options, and soon enough we were taking the maintenance elevator back up to the mall proper.

"Now! How about some lunch?" Rhea suggested, tucking herself warmly against my side as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, releasing us back onto the bustling main plaza of the Metro Mega Mall. "I hear the food court here is actually not too bad. Especially the Chinese place. I’ve been dying to check it out! All the dark-web reviews just rave about it."

"Whatever you like," I said. I let my arm wrap casually around her, pulling her against my side as we walked past the massive, burbling center fountain.

Rhea giggled, nuzzling against my shoulder. Her woolly hair was soft, and the smooth hardness of her animal ears brushing against my arm was strangely pleasant.

"Sounds perfect, Miles. It’s right over in the east wing, up—"

She trailed off abruptly, and I felt her whole body stiffen.

I stopped walking instantly, following her gaze.

She was looking straight up at one of the huge, vaulted glass skylights arching over the promenade. Outside, there was a great view of the overcast skies.

Man, the weather really changed fast around here. But that wasn’t what got my attention.

It was the color of the sky. Blood red. An ominously glowing scarlet, like we were suddenly standing on Venus.

But more importantly, there was a person up there, floating overhead. A hero by the looks of it. Not exactly uncommon in Metropolis. But that color was very specific.

But... wait. Was that...

Mystic?

As if sensing my attention, the heroine suddenly aimed her scythe towards us.

Oh fuck!

I violently grabbed Rhea and Psyren, pulling them tight against my chest, and shoved a massive wave of magnetic repulsion against a nearby row of heavy steel trash bins.

The feedback sent the three of us skidding backward across the tiles, mere seconds before Mystic smashed through the high glass windows.

She slammed into the floor where we’d just been standing, riding the momentum of a massive, glowing red battering ram made of pure, hard-light magic.

God, now I understood why superman hated magic.

Stone cracked, buckling and cratering under the construct’s impact. Glass shards fell, shattering on the floor.

I skidded to a halt near a structural pillar, releasing Rhea and Psyren as the surrounding civilians screamed in absolute terror and broke for cover.

"Mystic!" I shouted, throwing my hands up incredulously. "What the actual fuck!"

But even as the words left my mouth, I realized something was deeply, fundamentally wrong.

I’d spent over a decade dealing with professional capes in some capacity, and looking at her now, every instinct I had was screaming a warning.

As the heroine rose from her crouch, her movements were totally wrong. She looked too stiff. Too intent. Her glowing eyes were locked onto my face.

Sharp red energy crackled around her forearms, bleeding off a heavy scythe she had conjured.

Frightened customers were stampeding out of the main plaza, but Mystic didn’t even glance their way.

All of her attention was focused entirely on me.

And... was it just me? Or did her eyes look a little... pixelated?

"Hey, bitch!" Psyren barked, stepping forward defensively and aiming a black-nailed finger at the hovering magician. "What’s the big idea? You want to start something? Because we’ll fucking finish it!"

"Yeah!" Rhea added, though she looked considerably more uncertain about facing down an S-class reality-warper.

Still, the gremlin reached into her coat and whipped out a collapsible tech-wand. It extended with a sharp metallic snap, the tip humming with high-voltage static.

Props to both of them for their courage, but they were horrifically outmatched here.

"Shit! Get back!" I yelled, shoving Rhea and Psyren away from me just as Mystic crouched once more, her magical scythe angled directly my way.

She suddenly shot at me, propelled forward by a detonating burst of energy beneath her boots.

I rapidly yanked my armor plating from the concealed bracers on my wrists and ankles, the magnetic metal snicking violently into place underneath my body just a microsecond before she swung for me.

I jerked back, narrowly evading the crushing swing of the scythe, but then her hand shot out and grabbed me squarely by the throat.

We flew backwards with her momentum, and I saw the second-story balcony wall rushing up behind us.

I hastily repelled my armor off the steel girders buried beneath the cement to act as an emergency brake.

I managed to slow our speed, but Mystic still had enough raw force behind her flight to slam me brutally into the wall.

The back of my armored helmet banged off the cement, my ears ringing violently, but I managed to look up just in time to see her draw back her glowing scythe for another shot at my head.

I violently jerked my head to the right. The magical weapon smashed into the wall right where my face had been, pulverizing the solid concrete to powder.

Static crackled over my helmet as my visor locked fully into place. I couldn’t breathe, so I drew my head back, tapped into my magnetic acceleration, and slammed my forehead straight into her face.

The brutal headbutt connected with a sickening crunch. Mystic’s head jerked back, blood pouring freely from her nose as she slowly looked back down at me—but she didn’t loosen her iron grip on my throat.

And now that I got a closer look, her eyes were digitized.

Perfectly rigid, illuminated geometric squares were overlaid directly onto her pupils, spinning like lines of code. The Override Array.

"Time to die, Polaris," she said.

Her voice wasn’t her own. It was utterly devoid of humanity as she drew back her scythe once more.