Semper Fi Read online

  “Gah,” He spat, “That’s disgusting, man! What are you, some kind super-leper?”

  That, Hale noted with amusement, did not go over well with his opponent.

  “You DARE!?” The man he’d dubbed ‘Ifrit’ bellowed, drawing himself up, eyes literally burning with indignation. “Infidel, I will burn you to ashes!”

  Hale side stepped in wild swing, then twisted out of the way of a bull headed charge, before casually lifting off the ground and floating just out of reach of the still swinging, and incredibly infuriated, man.

  “Come down here, you filth ridden… American!”

  Hale laughed, “I love how you make American sound like the worst part of that sentence. Of course, you would consider filth ridden to be normal, I suppose.”

  Hale knew he was enjoying this too much, the idea of actually bantering with the bad guy was the stupidest thing he could imagine, yet it was so damned FUN. He made a mental note to talk with someone about that, not certain if that was entirely him, or if there was some mental mucking going on due to the genetic tinkering.

  Either way, though, he was having an actual blast… in both the literal and the figurative sense of the word.

  Ifrit, on the other hand, seemed to be burning out.

  Literally.

  Hale cocked his head to one side.

  “Hey, I know we’re like, trying to kill each other and everything,” He said after a moment, “but… are you feeling ok? You aren’t looking so good, and I don’t mean the glowing skin and fire sparking off you either.”

  “Be… silent… american.”

  Hale slowly dropped lower as Ifrit seemed to start panting, dropping to one knee as though exhausted.

  “I…” Ifrit began, lifting his head in some confusion before suddenly pitching over and landing on the ground, his skin darkening… first from the fading of the glow light he’d been putting out, then from actually bring burnt by the remnants of his flams.

  “Whoa!” Hale tore off his jacket, throwing it on the burning man, trying to snuff out the flames as quickly as he could.

  Only a moment later, though, all motion had ceased and he propped himself up on a knee and felt around for a pulse.

  Nothing. Dead? How?

  This was something new. Granted, it was all pretty new, really, but Hale hadn’t seen anyone just burn out, pun not intended, like this. Not from their own powers. If it were going to happen, he’d have expected it from China’s Dragon, or even himself. Both of whom used far greater levels of power in their actions.

  Maybe it’s the fire? The Dragon didn’t have any issues, but there’s so much we don’t know still.

  He shook his head, confused as he rose to his feet, pulling his slightly scorched jacket with him.

  Whatever it was, there was more work to do. He looked around, finding that most of the other combatants had been happy to watch Ifrit take him on, and were now staring with confusion and some fear at the man’s body on the ground.

  Hale didn’t blame them. He wasn’t feeling too great about the situation either. He wouldn’t shed any tears for a man screaming infidel in his face and trying to burn him alive, but until he knew what caused the man’s death, Hale had to wonder if it weren’t a screw up in the gene engineering process.

  And if they screwed up once… they certainly screwed up more.

  It gave him a chill, thinking about how much he’d relied on his own abilities in the past little while, but there was no option going forward.

  He needed to continue, otherwise it was all going to come down, and he would not allow that.

  Not on my watch. No matter the cost.

  “Semper Fi,” He murmured, flipping the BDU jacket back on as he turned to look at the others. “Who’s next!?”

  *****

  “Time?”

  Pitr checked his watch from where he sat, “From surge to death? A little under two minutes.”

  “Hmmm…” Tessa hummed to herself. “Limited duration, but useful.”

  Pitr nodded, “and turning a raghead into a suicide bomber? That’s priceless, fraulein.”

  Tessa nodded, a smile playing at her lips, “quite enjoyable as well.”

  Her amusement didn’t last very long, however, and she became serious.

  “His power level was never truly a threat to the Marine, though,” She admitted.

  Pitr shrugged, “Perhaps if we simply throw more of them at him?”

  “I have limits, Pitr.”

  “Of course you do, but you’ve not pushed them yet, have you?” He asked, with a knowing smile.

  Tessa smiled in turn, rolling her eyes slightly, “No, I have not. Very well, we’ll join with Malcolm’s move and close on the Marine with a… pincer, I believe it’s called in military circles? The irony amuses me, if nothing else. Find me a suitable group.”

  Pitr nodded, tilting his head slightly, as thought thinking.

  “Got one. Clashing mobs, police, real mess. Just a couple blocks away.”

  “That will do.”

  Pitr rose to his feet and gestured behind them, opening a larger tear in reality. Through it they could see fighting, smoke, and fire. Tessa casually stepped through as Pitr held the door, as it were, then he took one more glance down to the Plaza and shrugged before vanishing through the gap himself, letting it close with a popping sound behind him.

  *****

  USSOCOM Bunker, Virginia

  “What the hell was that?” Pearson demanded as she focused on the screen.

  No one had any clue, not that she’d really expected much. She was the closest thing to an expert on the changed that was present, after all. If she didn’t have any idea, what were the odds anyone else did.

  She did, however, have a phone with a speed dial list, and she was far from afraid to use it.

  “Colonel.”

  The voice over the phone new her number well enough, it seemed.

  “Are you watching this?” Pierson demanded.

  “Yes Ma’am.” The head of the military CID lab told her, “We’re running simulations already.”

  “Was it something Hale did?” Pierson asked.

  “We don’t believe so, no. Our best guess so far, and I stress that it is only a guess,” The man told her, “is that his own power somehow turned on him.”

  “We’ve not seen anything like that yet,” Pierson said, a hint of worry. “What about Hale and the others?”

  “They’ve all used far more power than this incident, I would hazard that if they were likely to burn out some how, it would likely already have happened. We will try and determine for certain, however.”

  “Of course.”

  That went without saying. It was one thing to watch a hostile burn out and die under his own power, but Pierson wasn’t about to let it happen to allies if she could help it.

  “Make this a priority,” She ordered. “If it’s something we can use, all the better, but if not then I want to be sure it’s not going to fry our people.”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  Pierson closed the connection, turning back to the scene that was playing out on half a dozen different screens.

  Hale was standing in the middle of the plaza, again, and it looked like he was taunting or challenging the other superhumans present to take him on. Something none of them seemed inclined to do, given that the last one who’d tried had somehow wound up dead on the ground via means none of them could see.

  Probably exactly what Hale is counting on, She thought wryly.

  “Your Marine is a sneaky bastard,” an Air Force General said dryly to the Brigadier beside him, having apparently made the same connection.

  Isaacs shrugged, “I’m not certain he can be termed to be mine, precisely, but all Marines endeavor to be sneaky bastards when applicable.”

  The Air Force General snorted, “Harlan, the only reason we don’t have a saying about Marines in a china shop is cause the Bulls got there first.”

  Harlan Isaacs laughed despite himself, then
shooting the Air Force man a dirty look before returning to the scene

  Pierson took a breath and refocused herself, returning her own focus to the screen. There was too damn much going on, and even more at stake. She needed to be brining her A game to this, despite not even knowing the rules she was playing by.

  *****

  Berlin

  Hale grinned like a maniac, knowing he had to look creepy as hell as he faced down the entire group of changed superhumans, daring them to come at him.

  Messing with people’s heads was fun, and he knew what they had to be thinking, but figured that there was no way he was going to be able to correct their impressions anyway. Not when he didn’t have any idea what the hell had just happened, at least.

  Better to let the enemy keep making a mistake than to try and correct them anyway.

  He picked one of them out, pretty much at random.

  “You,” Hale pointed. “You look like you’re good for a fight.”

  The swarthy man froze, slowly pointing to his own chest.

  “Yes, you.”

  The man shook his head, taking a step back.

  “No? Come on,” Hale grinned, “I’ll give a free shot.”

  He was amused and, he had to admit, mildly disappointed when the man shook even harder, holding his hands up in surrender.

  “Really?” He faked a sigh.

  Mostly fake, anyway. He still had a mission, and while a non-violent takedown was desirable in some ways, the mission was still the priority and he needed that thing to stay on station until they had assets in place to try and mount an intercept.

  Oh well, let’s see if we can’t get these dumbasses wrapped up and then I can go scare up some more…

  Hale froze in mid thought as one of the targets in the group suddenly seized up, choking and grabbing at his throat before pitching over. He hit the ground hard, convulsing wildly before becoming still. Everyone of the previous toughs standing around him took one look, then scattered at a dead run in every direction, as though the devil himself was chasing them.

  Hale just stared at the body for a moment, wondering if maybe they were right about that.

  Infectious substance?

  Hale mentally ran the checks on himself, trying to identify any sign of chemical or biological weapons that might have been used on him. He came up clean in his self check, but that was far from a guarantee, unfortunately.

  “Stay back,” He ordered loudly as the GSG9 had begun closing on the man. “Better institute terror ABC protocols.”

  The men exchanged looks, then nodded, falling into a professional routine that comforted both Hale and them.

  Hale, in the meantime, turned away and keyed open the earpiece he was wearing.

  “Pierson.”

  “You seeing this?” He asked.

  “We are,” She confirmed. “No real clues yet. We’ll need samples.”

  “Communicate with the locals,” Hale said, “I’m busy, and I don’t have the tools anyway.”

  “We’ll work on that angle, I have backup inbound for you, but it’s a ways out.” She told him.

  “As long as people don’t start dropping wholesale, I can hold the line for a while,” He said. “ETA for intercept asset?”

  There was a pause, and Hale smirked slightly. It was rare that he asked a question that Pierson hadn’t anticipated.

  “Just under an hour. The target is now orbiting Berlin at an altitude of fourteen thousand feet,” She told him. “No signs of it withdrawing from the area, so just keep what you’re doing.”

  “I don’t even know if it’s paying any attention to be or not,” He grumbled, but went on, “but fine. There’s a lot here to do. I’m just trying to keep from tearing the city down in the meantime.”

  “That would undesirable, yes.”

  Hale snorted at her dry response, “Yeah, figured. Why couldn’t this shit happen in a city we don’t give a damn about? Tehran could be fun to tear apart… or maybe Pyongyang?”

  “Keep dreaming, Captain, but in the meantime there’s still a job to be done.”

  “Yeah yeah,” Hale said, “I’m on it. We have any intelligence on the surrounding area?”

  “We do,” She confirmed. “In addition to every major news network, and most of the minor ones, plus bloggers we’re still discovering… well, suffice to say, in addition to all of that, we have a Predator orbiting at four thousand feet. There’s a major riot going on just a few blocks north of your position, we’d listed it as a normal riot but there’s been evidence of superhuman abilities in the last few minutes.”

  “Right,” Hale nodded, turning to the North. He could see flashes in that direction, now that he was paying attention. “On it.”

  “It’s already moving in your direction, Captain,” Pierson informed him.

  “I suppose I better head them off at the pass then,” Hale answered in his best John Wayne.

  “Don’t quit your day job, Captain,” Pierson told him dryly. “Good luck.”

  Hale chuckled, closing the connection as he took to the air and started to head North. He paused for a moment, looking back to where the GSG9 were cordoning off the area.

  Hope we’re not dealing with something infectious.

  Then he was away, accelerating to the north.

  *****

  Chapter 8

  Berlin

  “Here he comes.”

  Tessa nodded, “Get some more popcorn, would you? This should be fun.”

  Pitr silently retrieved a bag from the closest theatre, pausing only to check that the machine was topped off with kernels and running. He handed it over to Tessa as he returned his attention to the riot below.

  “Did you get enough of them?” He asked.

  “I suppose we’ll find out,” Tessa responded. “Honestly hard to say, but it’ll be a good show, if nothing else.”

  Pitr grinned.

  There was truth there.

  The worlds greatest action blockbuster, and they had the best seats in the house.

  Sucked to be the players in this little action drama, of course, especially the ones drafted by Tessa, but hey… showbiz was a tough way of life.

  The Marine arrived on schedule, slowing to float above the crowd and instantly getting all the attention focused on himself rather than the bedraggled riot cops who had been struggling to hold the movement back as best they could.

  Not that it was working, of course. Not with the police taken by surprise by the sudden shift in direction the mobs had taken, nor the sudden appearance of enraged superhumans in the mix.

  “Here we go,” Tessa said, sounding rather eager.

  Blasts had torn up from the crowd, aimed at the Marine as he floated there.

  The American dodged them easily enough, letting the blasts fly off into the night as he shifted position to put himself side on to the crowd while he scanned them more intently. The blaster tried again, much to his regret Tessa suspected.

  The Marine just vanished, reappearing on the ground beside the blast in a blink, slamming the man into the ground in a hard takedown.

  “Oh, that had to hurt,” Pitr winced.

  “Did he teleport?” Tessa asked, blinking.

  “No, pure speed,” Pitr said. “You heard that crack, like a whip only louder?”

  She nodded.

  “Sonic boom. He hit at least seven or eight hundred kilometers an hour there, maybe a lot more. Literally blink and you’ll miss him. The man has style, you have to give him that.” Pitr chuckled.

  Tessa scowled, “Style or no, he is in my city.”

  Pitr looked sharply over, “our city, Fraulein.”

  Tessa rolled her eyes, “Yes yes, Our city.”

  She then silently turned her focus back to the scene below, dark amusement glittering in her eyes.

  *****

  Hale pinned the man who’d shot off some sort of energy crap at him, twisting his arms nearly to the point of breaking. He was willing to put up with a lot of shit, given his
mission and the nature of the situation, but blindly firing off what was probably the equivalent of small explosives was really pushing his tolerance.

  “Stay down!” He ordered in german, noting that a gap had opened up between the two of them and the rest of the mob that had quieted suddenly, shocked by the fast pace triggering of events.

  Hale held the struggling man, noting that unlike most of the superhuman types he’d encountered so far this one didn’t seem to have any enhanced strength to speak of.

  “Everyone be calm!” He called out. “There is no reason to fight.”

  That seemed to be the wrong thing to say.

  The shocked murmurs turned to angry ones almost like a switch had been thrown, and Hale could feel the intent being focused on him.

  Not good.

  He almost missed the attack when it came, only spotting the charging woman at the last moment because of how fast she was. She came in with a club in hand, swinging hard, and he had only a second to make his next move.

  Hale twisted hard, intentionally dislocating the shoulder’s of the man in his grip just before the blow struck him. He was thrown up by the surprisingly hard blow from what he recognized as a steel pipe, but quickly regained control over his direction and arced back around at high, yet sub-sonic, speed.

  He ripped the pipe from the woman’s hand, kicking her legs out from under her and driving the pipe down hard as she fell.

  The woman stared, eyes wide, at the steel pipe driven through the pavement just inches from her head, then looked back up at the Hale, fear coloring her features.

  “Stay down,” He advised her firmly, just before he was hit by a tackle from behind.

  *****

  “He’s holding back, a lot.” Tessa said with a tone of idle chit chat.

  Pitr nodded, “Surprising, honestly. Marines aren’t known for their restraint, generally, but he seems honestly concerned with not harming anyone… too much at least.”

  The pair both glanced at the first man that had been taken down, noting that he was still lying where he’d been put, obviously trying very hard not to move too much for fear of jostling his dislocated shoulders.

  “Stupid.”