Black Market Merchant

The two Plain Striders were moving slowly through the electrical line trap, knocking aside any of the paralyzed Twisted from the dam’s road with their horns. Their dead bodies were flung off the dam’s high wall or sent tumbling into the lake. Those that were trapped between the electrical lines were no exception either and knocked aside.

The baby Hoard Mother was controlling the Plain Striders with pinpoint focus and driving them to their limits. Soon, the baby Hoard Mother would be crossing itself to feast on the remaining humans, its hunger demanded it. The dead smaller Twisted too would also serve as extra food for its Hoard. Replacing them would be easy over time.

Lisa was no longer worried by the invading monsters coming from behind, they were not the true threat. However, those people standing to defend the dam were going to get in the way. In order to push back these monsters to complete the final part of her plan she had to get them out of the way.

Lisa didn’t even look away from the dam road as she called out. “Nathan, Gillian, get everyone to go help defend at the fences. I will take it from here.”

“Uh, are you sure?” Gillian, who was closer, asked. “There are still hundreds of Twisted beyond the electrical lines. Won’t you need back up?”

“No. I won’t.” Lisa said calmly. “Just watch how strong I really am and why you want me on your side. I should have just done this sooner.”

…

“Boss.” Orville called out.

“Hmm, what is it, Orville?” 56 asked lowering his gun.

56 had been doing his part to kill as many Twisted as he could. Not for Lisa or the townspeople’s sake, but because he had already promised Dixon and the others that he would help them in exchange for taking him out from Moab City. It was only fair he held up the deal.

“24 is getting ready to active.” Orville answered. “From the signal I am getting, 24 is already in Advance Armament: Stage One.”

“Is that so? So, she is finally getting serious.” 56 said and he raised his rifle back up to continue shooting. As he blasted away Twisted after Twisted, his thoughts wandered absentmindedly. “I was wondering why she had been holding back all this time. She is such a drama Queen! She would sacrifice others just to keep her abilities a secret and yet she always claimed to want to help others too. Damn hypocrite. Yet, if that is not it, then something else might be causing her to not reveal her cyborg talents. I better ask her once this is over.”

56 lowered his gun and looked at the Twisted still streaming out from the westside of town. There wasn’t a single street, path, or alley that didn’t have monsters coming out from them. “These people won’t last much longer at this rate. I’d say the Twisted numbers have doubled now and there is no end in sight either. I don’t see any way for them to survive this.”

56 took another glance at 24. “I would also say she is hiding her abilities after all. She has been only using her katana and only her Stage One so far. Not once has she used her arm gun, nor her other hidden weapons, and oddly enough not even using her own guns. If she would have used ‘that’ earlier, this battle would have ended back at the cliff. 24 has always been so selfish.”

…

Lisa braced herself as she heard Yin callout to Sadie to turn off the electricity. Keeping her katana at half its length, she planted one foot behind the other and held the katana horizontal to the ground. Just as the paralyzed Twisted collapsed, Lisa started running right for the closest of the Night Hounds and Logos Cutters.

Like a tornado, Lisa began to spin and bounce from one monster to the next cutting off arms, legs, and heads at speeds none of the smaller Twisted could keep up with. Unlike the first time when she fought the Night Hound in the tunnel, she was no longer afraid of fighting them. In fact, she found it even easier to deal with them than gun wielding soldiers.

The baby Hoard Mother at that moment too let out a heavy rumble and the two Plain Striders charged at their full speed. They trampled over the other Twisted in their path leaving squashed black puddles in their wake. It was going to be a matter of moments before the three clashed and decide the flow of this battle.

Lisa sliced clean through torso of the last of the Night Hounds near her and looked up to see the first of the Plain Striders was already baring down on her. Remembering how she had failed to stop them before; Lisa picked a new strategy.

Lisa shouted as her blade extended to reach its full three-meter height. “You won’t be kicking me anywhere this time!”

She then charged along the right wall of the dam towards the Plain Strider. In turn the Plain Strider moved closer to the wall as well to cut her off. The two were charging at near equal speeds and it was clear neither of them was going to back down.

The Plain Strider attacked first by throwing its head back to swing its long horns at her. The horn came crashing down at her and it seemed there would be no way to avoid the strike. However, just at the last possible second, Lisa jumped. Her body tucked tightly into a somersault and the horn passed right underneath of her to smash into the wall. The horn tore off a huge chunk of the wall and even part of the road itself!

Lisa landed on both feet, turned with perfect precision, and jumped straight upwards. The Plain Striders neck was completely exposed to her at this moment and her katana’s tip sunk easily into the monsters flesh until it reached her handle. The blade traveled so far that it stuck out the other end of the Plain Striders neck! She then grabbed onto the ugly red, leathery skin of the Plain Striders neck with one hand and with her other hand turned the blade inside the Plain Striders neck so that it pointed downwards.

The Plain Strider let out a gargled roar. The katana’s blade had traveled through its esophagus and blood was draining into its throat. It then tried to shake her free by throwing its head from side to side, but it was no use; Lisa would not let go.

Lisa then began to pull down on the handle repeatedly in a sawing motion. The downward facing blade began to cut through the neck flesh and blood vessels little by little. Black blood fell out of the growing wound in great globs and splattered all over the road below.

Then, just as it seemed like Lisa was about to slit the entire throat of the Plain Strider, the second Plain Strider headbutted into the first squarely on its side. The force of the blow knocked the first Plain Strider off its feet and off the entire dam. Both Lisa and the dying Plain Strider were now freefalling towards the dark colored river below.

Lisa pulled the katana free as she planted her feet on the falling Plain Striders neck and pushed off to jump back towards the dam. The distance back was fortunately not that great when she did jump, and it became clear that she was going to make it. However, the second Plain Strider was already waiting. The second Plain Strider used its horns to try and bat at Lisa like a baseball.

Seeing this, Lisa swung her katana downwards to intercept the oncoming horn. The two blows caused a resounding ‘crack’ to echo off the dam and cliffside below. However, Lisa was not knocked away like a baseball homerun, but instead she was sent flying upwards like a pop-fly!

Lisa shot so far into the air that it looked like she might have traveled twice as high as the dam!

As Lisa continued to go upwards, she couldn’t help but marvel at the situation. “Now this is something you don’t experience every day! I had been skydiving from military planes before, but never have I been thrown into the sky.”

Reaching the peak of her assent, Lisa prepared to plan a way for herself to land. She also spread her arms wide to control and slow her new skydiving experience. “If a Plain Strider can give me this much trouble, I better not hold back against that big white one. I just hope my plan works.”

Lia was reaching max falling velocity when she said to herself, “I don’t think I can survive a normal landing. So, I guess there is no helping it now. Everyone was bound to find out about me sooner or later. Activate Armament: Stage Two!”

As her Stage Two began to transform, Lisa noted that she was coming straight back towards the Plain Strider’s back. Being launched so far up, both the Plain Strider and baby Hoard Mother lost track of her, and the Plain Strider was just about to turn back to charge at the humans when Lisa arrived. Like a meteor falling from the sky, Lisa crashed onto the Plain Strider’s back, feet first, right between the shoulder blades. Buckling from the impact, the Plain Strider collapsed belly first onto the road with a heavy, meaty thud. Lisa then raised her katana high and stabbed straight down, ending the Plain Strider for good.

…

Hanna and the other girls were the only ones able to watch Lisa’s full fight on the dam. Everyone else was too busy fighting to see it all. All four of them were rooted in place with awe as Lisa charged the Night Hounds and Logos Cutters. They still didn’t budge even when Lisa first engaged the first Plain Strider. However, all of them let out a unified gasp when Lisa was launched into the air.

“No, Aunt Lisa!” Hanna shouted and cupped her hands over her mouth.

Clair jumped out onto the parking lot and placed a hand on her brow to block the sunlight so she could watch for Lisa falling. “I think she is alright! Lisa has gone straight up, and it seems like she is still moving!”

“Really?” Hanna answered coming out from the building to watch.

The other two girls hurried out as well to look just as Lisa was activating her Stage Two. It was these four girls that were the first from town to see Lisa’s transformation into Stage Two. Though the airborne anime like transformation happened so quickly, and they were a bit far away, it was something none of them could ever forget.

Lisa’s legs and arms opened to mechanically spread apart at every joint, doubling the length and width of her limbs. The panels covering the areas between these joints also lifted sightly and reconnected to form a bulkier version of Lisa. At every crack and joint a bright, neon green glow appeared, and unbeknownst to the four girls, this was the visual light from the energy sources that gave Lisa her cyborg strength and speed. Her black skintight suit also began to glow with a green circuit board like pattern and suit spread out to connect to all her limbs together.

There was much more going on to her transformation, but the girls couldn’t see it all happening. Lisa not only changed physically but the energy flooding her systems was double the adrenaline rush and hyperawareness as Stage One. However, they understood one thing, that there was still so much they didn’t understand about the world.

As soon as Lisa landed to crush the Plain Strider to death, it was then the four girls saw than not only had Lisa’s body changed but her eyes had too. They were glowing bright silver, just as brightly as the neon green from her body. Then as Lisa looked away from them at the baby Hoard Mother the silver eyes seemed to leave contrails in their wake.

“So, that is what her cyborg body look.” Hanna said softly in awe.

“Y-you knew about this?” Clair stammered.

Hanna nodded. “Yes, but not this much. It’s no wonder Aunt Lisa is so strong. There is no way the Twisted will win now!”