Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 19.8: Whirlwind of Destruction

Future Girl knew she was being impulsive. But she finally had the opportunity to really cut loose with her powers and see just how much she could do.

Aiming straight downward, ignoring Amy's warnings, Future Girl stormed through the submarine. Every time she saw a wall or floor, she tore through it. Every time she saw the red-robed Temple agents, they got punched.

Future Girl punched through the layer after layer of submarine, not thinking for a moment about the vessel's structure or all the science behind it – even though that did interest her.

Future Girl's whirlwind of destruction came to a halt, though, as did her whole body, as she slammed into an immovable object. She fell onto her back, dazed for a second, and then surveyed her surroundings. She was in some sort of storage area, it seemed, with boxes, canisters, and random pieces of equipment. Half the room was already falling apart thanks to her.

The room was lit with flashing red warning lights so distracting that Future Girl almost didn't see the figure right in front of her. It was shaped like a man, as if there was a man inside a black marble shell. All around the surface of this shell were streaks of blue lights, like veins.

Still in adrenaline-rush mode, Future Girl flew up off the floor and straight toward the creature, aiming for its head.

Crack!

That was the sound coming from her fist as it struck the unmoving figure. She dropped to her feet and saw a twisted knotted mess that was once her right hand. Her fingers were all bent the wrong way. Future Girl checked the Paradoxicon and was relieved to find it still in place.

In an instant, the figure moved – so fast that Future Girl wasn't sure what had happened at first. It grabbed her by her neck and lifted her off the ground.

She pressed against the thing's featureless face, but it remained immobile. It squeezed her neck, cutting off her air. Normally, she knew, she could hold her breath far longer than most people, but the shock of her shattered hand had her taking short breaths.

First there was the lightheadedness, then there was the room-spinning dizziness, and then the lights and sounds around her started to fade.

She pressed her left index finger between her teeth and pulled off her glove. She then pressed her bare hand against the skin of her arm. The Paradoxicon's energy flowed through her body until it realigning it and healing her broken bones.

Then the strange figure swung at her again, and she blacked out.

* * * *

As soon as the manufacturers entered the room, Proscenium deduced that U.S. Amy would attack them immediately, such was the excitable energy of youth. As she did, Proscenium turned into a cloud and expanded, filling the room. He assumed this would give her an advantage by cutting down on the manufacturers' visibility.

What happened occurred in only a few seconds. In his cloud form, Proscenium could only observe as the manufacturers surrounded Amy, breaking her jaw and arms, and then beating her into unconsciousness.

With that, Proscenium flowed around the manufacturers seeing some way inside their solid black forms, in hopes of disrupting whatever machinery might be inside, but he could find no energy.

Proscenium heard a humming sound and sensed Corruption, still in the furnace chamber, now holding a small device, drawing in the air from all around her.

Unfortunately for Corruption, this was not the first time an enemy had tried the vacuum trick on him. Through years of training, he had, while in cloud form, been able to detect changes in the air patterns around him to avoid being sucked into a vacuum.

Proscenium lifted his cloud form high enough into the air to avoid Corruption's device. He found just the right crack in the ceiling and flowed up into the other levels of the submarine.

He could have gone solid for only a second to knock out Corruption. But after seeing the speed at which the manufacturers moved, Proscenium knew even one second would have been all they needed to tear him apart. He needed to strategize – to find a weakness so he might return before Amy would be killed.

Proscenium floated up higher and higher, flowing through the various levels of the vessels. He saw some of the damage caused by Future Girl in her rampage, and he saw other manufacturers skulking around the ship. Many of them, he saw, had torn through submarine walls in their search for him.

Hoping to avoid detection, Proscenium's smoky form wisped through the ship, following the path he originally followed, until he reached the hatch to the sub's exterior.

Not seeing any manufacturers around, Proscenium reformed into a solid, right underneath the hatch leading to the surface. He maneuvered his large, armored frame up the ladder and then concentrated all his energy into a single punch, smashing the hatch open. Sunlight filled the area beneath it as small shards of shredded metal fluttered down around him.

Not wishing to press his luck any farther, he turned into a cloud and floated upward, into the open sky.

The submarine was still at sea level, but, as Proscenium floated higher upward, he couldn't see the Accretion anywhere in the sky above it. He also didn't see any sign of Future Girl, Dreamsmith, or the Ergosphere.

Proscenium looked at the submarine, which seemed to follow him as he floated away from it. He knew that after a while, he would eventually have to become solid again. The submarine, no matter how damaged, could float there indefinitely.

Proscenium spread his cloud form outward as far as he could, casting his senses as far as they could go, not only could he find no trace of the Accretion, but he could sense no more fighting from within the sub. Future Girl's onslaught against the vessel had been silenced, Amy was defeated, and he had no idea where the others were.

More Temple agents appeared at the tower hatch and were soon climbing out and standing atop the sub's surface, aiming machine guns at him.

He knew what he had to do.

He floated downward and solidified on the sub's surface, surrounded by the Temple agents and their guns. Two of the manufacturers stood behind them.

Before any of his adversaries could say something, Proscenium dropped to one knee and held out his open palms.

"I surrender," he said.

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END OF CHAPTER 19

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Next: The Temple.