“He plans to take Haven with him?”
“Haven and most of the city, it seems,” the Auer said as more of the liquid darkness covered her body. “Get upstairs and teleport from there. I’d do it”—she gestured to the darkness—“but this seems to be stopping me from accessing my power. Go stop him. Now leave, before I transition and you’re trapped down here with me. Go on, it’s time to go.”
Monty stepped back and I followed him. He took a few steps before moving faster. By the time we were at the stairs we were at a dead run. We took the stairs two at time and Monty skidded to a stop at the top floor.
He began gesturing as I noticed a bright light emanating from downstairs.
“Monty, what’s that?” I asked, focusing my gaze on the light getting brighter. “That looks like—”
He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the teleportation circle. A flash of green energy later and we were standing at the end of the road that led to the Unisphere.
A massive beam of white light shot up into the sky from the center of the tripod that held up the Unisphere. That was followed by a shockwave that knocked us back several feet. Monty gestured and we were slowed by a cushion of air. I turned back to look at the Unisphere and saw it tilt slightly as it rolled off the tripod.
The three rings around the globe signifying famous orbits shattered, flying off into different parts of the park. The thin plates representing continents warped and twisted as the bolts holding them in place flew through the night, shooting in every direction. The stress from the rolling globe shrugged off each of the continents as it kept moving.
Heading straight for us.
“Can you stop that?” I asked as the globe kept coming. “It looks heavy. Real heavy.”
“It weighs approximately three hundred and eighteen thousand kilograms,” Monty said matter-of-factly. “I don’t believe I possess enough power to stop a mass that large.”
“Why would you even know that?” I asked, staring at him. “It doesn’t look like it’s going to stop.”
“It will,” Monty said, glancing behind us and pointing. “It will stop there.”
“Where?” I said looking in the direction he was pointing and seeing nothing—nothing except the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium. “No. The stadium?”
Monty nodded and began gesturing.
“Time to go,” he said under his breath. “We don’t want to be here when a world collides.”
He created another circle under us. I felt the surge of energy and Flushing Meadows Park disappeared in a green flash. We reappeared moments later in front of Haven. I barely had a moment to get my bearings when Monty hit me with a blast of air, launching me across the street.
I bounced for a few feet and rolled for several more before coming to a sudden stop against a wall.
“Ow,” I groaned, rubbing my side and feeling the heat flush my body as my curse repaired the damage. “What the hell, Monty?”
I slowly got to my feet and caught sight of Monty creating a golden lattice of energy in front of him.
“Get down!” Monty yelled, running from the lattice and diving over a car. “It’s him!”
“It’s who?” I asked and turned just in time to see Douglas drop onto the Duezy, exploding it into little Duezy components all over the street.
THIRTY-THREE
The only thing that saved me from being instantly impaled was Monty’s lattice shield.
I ducked behind a parked car as several pieces of Duezy shrapnel embedded themselves in the car I had ducked behind, as well as the wall behind me. I looked across to see Monty gesturing again.
“Shit,” I said, peeking over my makeshift carricade. “Cecil is going to be so pissed.”
“Not relevant,” Monty said, unleashing a swarm of six orbs. “We have to deal with Douglas. His energy signature is—”
“It’s growing…Oh no.”
“Yes,” Monty said, creating more orbs. “At this rate he will hit critical mass within ten minutes.”
“When you say critical mass…?”
“Haven and most of the East Side will be gone, to start with,” Monty said. “And that’s only an educated guess. I fear the damage will be even more extensive.”
“Strong, come out,” Douglas called. “I want you to see what real power looks like.”
“Pass, thanks,” I called out, feeling a surge of power coming from Douglas. I dove to the side as a blast of flame cut through the car I was hiding behind, slamming into the wall, and punching a hole into the building. “Can you not destroy the building? Then we get called. Everyone gets pissy and starts blaming us. Insurance premiums go through the roof and—”
Another blast punched into the building, narrowly missing me.
“You think this is a joke?” Douglas asked as I felt him spool more energy into his body. “This facility treats non-human scum as if they were human, as if they deserve to live among us.”
Douglas turned and extended an arm.
A beam of flame poured from his hand into the side of Haven. The beam of fire was white, tinged with edges of blue. Even from across the street I could feel the intense heat as the beam melted a chunk of the exterior of the building into slag.
“That is bad,” I said, looking at the melting exterior. “He’s getting stronger.”
“I’m going to need you to distract him,” Monty said. “For just a moment.”
“Look, I know Kali’s curse is powerful,” I said, peeking over the car again; Douglas seemed distracted. “I don’t think it’s Death Star beam resistant.”
“Use the dawnward, it should protect you until you get to cover.”
“The dawnward?” I asked. “Oh, you mean the shield I barely know how to use? That dawnward?”
“It should protect you against a direct blow,” Monty said. “I only need a second or two.”
“We went from a moment to a second or two,” I hissed. “What are you going to be doing while
