“Learning to skid is a lot like making love for the first time. It’s really slippery, it’s over in seconds, and afterwards you just lay there wondering if you’ll ever be able to walk again. The only difference–at least in my experience–is when you wipe out while skidding, people are less likely to laugh at you.”

  Wally lashed out with a metallic leg. It crunched through the rear armor of one of the grunts. The soldier slammed into the wall and collapsed. “I got another one!” he shouted.

  “Great job, bud!” Fu grunted. Servos whined as she swung a metallic fist overhead, trying to find a way around the red aether shield.

  Both Wally’s new legs and his old cutting laser were proving amazingly effective as weapons. His elation was cut short, however, as his legs slid and he nearly fell. It was nearly impossible to tell what he had slipped on in this darkness interrupted by emergency strobes and muzzle blasts. But at his best guess, it was blood.

  He gasped and tried to keep his gorge down. Shones. People were dead. In this very room. He wasn’t ready to deal with it. The darkness, the flashes of gunfire, and the smell of smoke were overwhelming enough.

  While they’d taken down most of the soldiers the male sorcerer summoned, the toll had been great, and many of the defending cops had also been gunned down. The rest had long since spent all of their ammo. They either huddled uncertainly or fled. Wally’s back almost wrenched as the powerful balance reflexes in his legs fought to keep him upright. He might need to fine tune that. Falling would suck, but it would be better than snapping his spine. He mentally workshopped the problem to distract him from the death surrounding him.

  “Stubborn bastard!” Fu spat. She was struggling against the tall sorcerer. He’d backed into the hallway leading toward the staff entrance. His shield absorbed nearly all of the force thrown at it. A punch from a mighty robotic arm barely caused him to step back, but the impacts were slowly damaging her suit. Meanwhile, he could fire his gun right through it, and he was deadly with the weapon. Fu’s gun was smoking, the right knee of her suit had frozen up, and there were multiple spiderwebs of cracks on her faceplate where a bullet had ricocheted. Wally tried another shot with his laser, but not only was it ineffective, the shield actually reflected the laser like a mirror, burning a hole in the ceiling. That was dangerous. He’d have to find another way to be useful.

  Wally heard distant shouting, and he recognized Jett’s voice. He looked across the room. There was a large three sided counter, a couple of desks behind it, and behind that was a door marked “Evidence Room.” Jett would need his stick, and if it was anywhere it had to be in that room.

  Wally ran, hearing and feeling bullets whizzing past his head. He vaulted over the counter… and promptly crashed into the floor, knocking the wind out of himself. Not only was he not used to being up and about, the metal leg prosthetics weighed well over fifty pounds. Supporting his full weight on his arms, even momentarily, wasn’t a fruitful prospect. He scrambled back to his feet and tried the door. It was locked, so he kicked, shattering it like balsa wood. Jett’s skidstick was propped against the wall right inside, with his skid shoes sitting in a tray just underneath. Either Wally was extremely lucky, or the items still hadn’t been processed. He grabbed everything and made his way back to the lobby.

  He heard Jett’s unmistakable sarcastic timbre approaching in the hallway, and a moment later he dashed into the lobby. “Uh, is the giant robot thing ours or theirs?”

  “Thank the Shones,” said the lady cop who had arrested Jett—Wally had watched it unfold via a hacked CCTV street camera. “That’s Fushigi. She’s from G-Tech, and she’s here to help.”

  “Bee-Ho?” said Fu. “That you? Thank the freaking Shones!”

  “I am here too!” said a male cop who entered with Jessie.

  “Oh.” Fu sounded much less enthusiastic. “Hi Tagalong. Make yourself useful and shoot something.”

  “Wally?” said Jett.

  “Hey!” Wally tossed Bullet Train and the shoes to his friend. Jett deftly caught the stick, but both of the shoes flew wide of their mark.

  “Wally!” Jett said. “The legs work? That’s awesome! But uh, why exactly are you here?”

  Wally opened his mouth to respond, but Jett suddenly raised a hand and closed his eyes, as if needing to concentrate. “Oh, right. One sec, gotta do something. ‘I take this as my weapon!’”

  Bullet Train flashed red. Wally gaped.

  Jett grinned widely as he admired his beloved skidstick. Then he turned and pointed it… the wrong way. He faced down the hallway he’d just emerged from and pointed the stick’s rear exhaust port in that direction. “Take this, ya movie extra rejects!” he yelled. Small fiery balls popped out of the stick, blazing down the hallway. Wally saw explosions in the distance and caught glimpses of more soldiers being tossed. Jett cursed and jumped back, narrowly avoiding a jaggedly fluctuating ball of ice. Wally also ducked under the glowing projectile. The ice ball splattered into the wall next to the booking desk, crackling and creaking as it formed a thick layer of frost. The wall itself cracked as it contracted from the cold. Geez, what had they gotten themselves into? Wally remained in his crouch, not sure it was safe to stand.

  “Bee-Ho!” Fu called. “You got Dragonfang?”

  “Always!”

  “Good! Help me with this bastard! He’s got another clowncar behind him somewhere! A weird, big one!”

  There was a sound like nails on chalkboard, and the male sorcerer yelped. “Gah! Assistance, Mantis! They’ve got something that damages my shield!”

  “Oh, Brick,” said a melodious but mocking female voice. While not overly loud, it cut through the chaos. “What would you do without me?”

  Wally heard beeping, followed by the magnetic THWUM of even more soldiers teleporting in. He peeked back over the counter, and his eye bugged.

  Jett, reunited with Bullet Train, was fully in his element, a sight to behold. Four soldiers surrounded him, rifles raised. He became a blur. The stick lashed out and swung, knocking the gun barrels askew. Jett thrust his palm at a soldier’s helmet, and there was an explosion of light and heat that Wally could feel. Nearby the female sorcerer was watching him fight, almost analytically. Like she was a spectator rather than a combatant. Wally ducked a little lower. Something about her made his heart want to stop.

  Incredibly, Bullet Train itself caught on fire, drawing bright shapes through the air as Jett slammed it into his attackers again and again. He grimaced, as did Wally, at a subtle sizzling sound, as if the soldiers were cooking in their own armor. In less than a minute they were all on the ground.

  Jett knelt over one of the soldiers, touching his arm. He cursed. Then he raised Bullet Train again, not a moment too soon, as Mantis lunged at him with icy insectile claws.

  “Don’t bother with the fallen grunts!” shouted Jessie. “They’re all dead! I’ll explain later!”

  Brick’s shield now sported multiple jagged white lines, like plastic that had been bent. Jessie slumped, suddenly exhausted. “Gotta put the Fang away,” she gasped. “Aethervoir’s getting low.”

  “Gah,” Fu groaned as one of her arms seized. She barely brought the other up to shield her face as Brick fired again, trying to punch through her faceplate.

  Jett was struggling against his new opponent. The woman was much smaller than him, but she was vicious, and she kept trying to sneak in ice aether attacks. She backed Jett toward the wall.

  “Jett Fulgen!” yelled the male sorcerer. “Surrender the amulet and we’ll spare your friends!”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Screw you!” said Jett. He had kicked off his prison slippers and was eyeing his skid shoes, just a few feet to his left. “Right?”

  “I agree,” panted Jessie.

  “Screw them twice!” said Fu.

  “Cool!” said Jett. “Then someone cover me while I grab my shoes!”

  Jessie raised her rifle, but Mantis quickly shot an ice ball, striking the barrel. Jessie cursed and tossed the weapon away. It was completely encased in ice in seconds.

  The male cop tried next, aiming an assault rifle. Mantis moved horrifyingly fast, knocking the rifle aside and slicing him across the stomach. He gasped and collapsed, arms over the injury.

  Finally, Wally raised his tablet and shot the lavender haired woman in the face. She shrieked and recoiled as the laser raked her from nose to ear. She glared at Wally. Even her left eye, badly injured by the shot, shone with fury. Wally reflexively shrank back from that hateful gaze.

  “Nice one!” said Jett, diving for the shoes. He deftly swept them off the floor and had them back on in seconds. He posed dramatically, right hand forward, stick held behind and above him, now reunited with all of his skid gear. “All right!” he said to the two suited sorcerers. “Now you’re in for a real fight!”

  Wally gasped. The sorcerers tensed. Fu pumped a squeaky metal fist. Jessie put a palm to her forehead. Jett clicked his heels together, and a plume of fire erupted from Bullet Train’s engine. He stepped forward—and fell flat on his face.

  “Jett, you idiot!” Jessie snapped. She punctuated her words with a k-rifle pulse to keep Mantis from immediately eviscerating me. “We remove power cells from confiscated items! It’s standard procedure!”

  “Might wanna look at revising that!” I wheezed as I got to my feet just in time to block Mantis from taking my head off. I couldn’t help but notice that the display screen on Bullet Train was very much on and working. It had visual glitches in place of some of the numbers it usually displayed. Like engine temperature.

  ?Is my stick still powering on because I’ve bound it as a weapon??

  [I suppose that makes sense.]

  ?That takes electricity though, and my power is fire.?

  [Do you really want me to try and figure that out now?]

  Mantis drove me back. As we exchanged blows I could actually feel my Muscle Memory and Lancer skills going to work. Her ice claws weren’t like anything I’d ever fought before, but I found myself adapting, figuring out how to parry her attacks, how to pull Bullet Train back when she tried to snap the jointed claws shut around the stick, how to take advantage of the blind spot in her vision where Wally had damaged her eye. More than once I cracked or broke her claws, but she quickly restored them.

  “Not bad, Fire Guardian,” she growled. “Now let’s kick it up a notch.”

  Her attacks became more rapid, her blocks and parries more decisive. She obviously had a similar Muscle Memory skill, and it was far more effective than mine. Her damaged eye was also slowly regenerating. And that disconcerting smile never left her face. I got the sense she was toying with me. This fight was a race, and I was losing.

  Meanwhile, three more soldiers cracked into existence. The sorcerer with the shield directed them to attack Wally and Jessy, further isolating me.

  ?Why can’t I power my shoes up like my stick??

  [That’s easy. You can’t bind armor yet. And yes, nearly any footwear can count as armor. However, you have just reached level 9. A little more experience and you’ll be able to choose your last starter pack, promote to Tier 2, and bind up to seven armor pieces. However, I would not recommend diving into your menus in the middle of a battle.]

  Mantis successfully grabbed my stick, yanked it from my hands, and tossed it aside. I panicked for a second, but then I remembered one of the perks of the Bind Weapon skill. The woman grinned triumphantly and swung at my head. Bullet Train reformed in my hands and I blocked again, to her great surprise.

  ?Great. How do I level up again? Do I really have to kill people??

  [Not necessarily. Any training or effective use of your skills will earn you experience. You didn’t kill anyone as a Rune Slayer, right?]

  ?That I know of.? I pointed the front end of Bullet Train at Mantis and tried a boosted jab. My Torch skill, channeled through the stick, did produce some thrust as it blasted out of the engine, but it wasn’t nearly as strong as it was supposed to be. ?Damn it, this isn’t working! Even if I could get my hover shoes back online I’d be sliding around like a ten-year-old on a practice stick!?

  [I don’t know what to tell you! Look for something in your next starter pack! Issa never had any use for such a thing!]

  I heard that feedback sound behind me, and I knew Jessie had pulled that dagger out again. There were a few sickening scrapes, and then she yelled, “Clear, Jett!” I stepped aside, and she took the fight to Mantis.

  She had briefly explained her strange weapon to me as we’d run toward the lobby. Dragonfang wasn’t a bound weapon, but a standalone artifact, so anyone could use it. It greatly enhanced one’s stats, it could be recalled if dropped or thrown, and it went basically invisible whenever it was sheathed. The only downside was it ate the user’s aether rapidly whenever it was drawn, so she could only use it for a few seconds at a time.

  She’d clearly learned how to make the most of it.

  Mantis blocked and parried as well as she could, but her beloved claws became like celery in the face of a chef’s knife. Jessie’s hand was a blur, shredding the claws and then cutting the woman’s arms. Mantis still managed to deflect the attacks with partially reformed claws and her own flesh. However, it wasn’t long before her sleeves were a shredded bloody mess, and her arms looked like they’d spent time in a wood chipper.

  Finally the woman snapped her torn hand out and grabbed Jessie’s wrist. The knife fell from her hand, and Jessie gasped as ice began to form around her arm. Not knowing what else to do, I stowed Bullet Train—it evaporated in a burst of flame—and grabbed both the sorcerer’s wrist and Jessie’s freezing arm in turn. I used Immolate on both hands.

  Both women screamed as flames engulfed their arms. I simultaneously activated Heal Burns on Jessie alone, healing her as quickly as I burned her while stopping the advancing ice.

  Immolate has reached Tier 1 Level 4. Heal Burns has reached Tier 1 Level 3.

  Mantis threw both of us with a sudden surge of strength. She panted and wrapped her bloodied arms around herself. “Fall back, Brick!” she croaked. “I think it’s time for that last resort!”

  “Agreed!” said Brick. “Outside! We need clearance!” He suddenly shoved Fu, the robot suit lady, back using his shield. Then he grabbed his large briefcase, clutched it protectively, and charged for the precinct entrance with his partner, angling his shield toward his back to deflect a parting laser shot from Wally.

  We all just stood there for a few seconds, panting, stunned at the sudden retreat.

  “C—Corporal?” said a weak voice.

  “Shit,” said Jessie, running to her fallen partner. She glanced over the wound on his abdomen. “Keep pressure on it. You’ll need medical attention, but you shouldn’t bleed out.”

  “Hold on.” I placed a hand on De la Cruz and activated my Heal Other skill. I could feel aether flowing out of me. It was only a trickle and barely moved my blue bar, like I was forcing a milkshake through a skinny straw.

  De la Cruz brightened for a moment, then slumped. “That feels a little better thanks,” he said, coughing. “Takes the edge off. But I still don’t think I’m good for fighting.”

  Heal Other has reached Tier 1 Level 2.

  “Sorry, it’s weak,” I admitted. “Basically a bonus prize that came with one of my starter packs. Figured it’d be better than nothing.”

  “Don’t try to get up, Evan,” said Jessie, “but we need to go after them and finish this. Will you be all right here until help arrives?”

  “I think so. Give me my gun just in case any grunt bastards are still around. Give ‘em hell, corporal.”

  “What was that?” Wally asked. “The big briefcase? Anyone? Was that some kind of bomb?”

  “No,” said Jessie. “It looked like a crewcase, but larger.” She went to the small stack of weapons she’d liberated from the precinct’s armory and chose a familiar one: a k-rifle. “Whatever it is, we’d better stop them from using it.”

  “Right!” said Wally enthusiastically. “I’m right behind you, Jett!”

  “Bee-Ho, a little help here?” said Fu. We glanced at her.

  Fu’s face shield had retracted, and she was trying to push the chest plate of her suit open. “The suit’s spent. I’ll need to continue on foot.”

  It took all three of us, including a fair amount of enhanced strength on my part, to get the mechsuit open. Fu climbed out and wobbled on her feet for a moment, drenched in sweat and wearing grease stained overalls. She walked over to the weapon pile and selected a shotgun along with a box of shells.

  Jessie regarded me. “You don’t have to do this, Jett. Also, who the hell is that guy?”

  “I’m Jett’s roommate,” said Wally cheerfully, as if that explained everything.

  “It’s true, he is,” said Fu.

  Jessie nodded sympathetically at Wally. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Hey!” I said.

  Jessie turned back to me. “Seriously, Jett. Fu and I are the ones trained for this. If you run, it could delay whatever they’re trying to do.”

  “Or more people will get hurt,” I glanced at Evan. Then I looked ruefully down at the corpse of a cop, one of many littering the lobby. She was young, younger than Jessie, maybe fresh out of high school or the academy or wherever new police officers got birthed from. These cops had died protecting me, even if they hadn’t realized it. Even if they hadn’t wanted to.

  “I hate it, Jess. You know Shones damned well. I hate when people get hurt on my account. No one’s going out there to face those bastards unless I’m with them.”

  I fixed Jessie with a glare. She nodded.

  I formed a burning fist.

  “Let’s go,” I said.