Now, Hawaii

The five hours to Honolulu Airport went without incident.

Cal spent the time clinging to the top of the plane with his telekinesis with occasional patrolling circuits. He didn’t encounter any problems. Just the night sky and the dark ocean thousands of feet below.

“Uh… so we’re getting close, but I think we overlooked one thing,” Pete said over the radio.

“No landing lights,” Cal replied. “Don’t worry. Just do exactly what I tell you.”

His helmet fed him the course headings, altitude and everything else he needed to guide the plane to the pitch black airport.

When the plane was at about two thousand feet Cal told the pilot to cut the engines and set the landing gear down. He grabbed the plane with his telekinesis and carried it the rest of the way down to the tarmac.

Cal’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at the terminal.

The airport wasn’t entirely dark.

Lights flickered inside. The way they danced suggested torches or maybe big candles.

He hadn’t detected anything with his passive telepathy, so he opened his walls up a little and reached out only to be hit with a knee-shaking wave of power.”

“What’s going on out there!” Demi’s voice crackled in Cal’s helmet. “Jimenez’s Danger Sense is going crazy!”

“Don’t… wait…” he managed to get out.

What do you intend? A voice spoke inside his head.

He saw flashes of an image.

Immense size, wings, sinuous bulk, sword-like teeth and even longer talons.

Do you seek to take my power? Foolish. You are but a hatchling in your strength even if it is considerable for such a weak world. Speak your intentions before I loose my patience.

More images.

Roiling lava.

Deep within rock.

An enormous nest the size of a house.

You dare!

The ground shook beneath his feet.

When did he land?

“Earthquake—” the voice in his helmet seemed to come from a great distance.

“No, wait! I come in peace,” Cal managed to get his bearings and push back against the presence in his mind. “We just need to refuel and we’ll leave.”

The silence lasted for seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

Such power.

It was palpable and Cal knew instinctively that he was outmatched.

Very well. You have my leave, but be warned. You do poorly in concealing your power. Unhidden power attracts covetous claws. Were my current circumstances not what they are I would be sorely pressed to resist the urge to take your strength to add to my own. You are worth the effort, not like the others. It seems that this world is not such a backwater after all. Gain strength, little one, lest you prove but a tiny morsel the next time I encounter you.

The presence abruptly vanished.

Cal gasped.

“What the hell was that?” Demi’s voice was insistent in his helmet.

“I can’t say for sure… but I think that was a dragon—” Cal couldn’t quite believe what he was saying. He had thought, perhaps naively, that his experiences had prepared him for every eventuality. That he wouldn’t be caught off guard again. “What’s her danger sense at know?” he noticed that he wasn’t alone on the tarmac.

Hard-eyed, armed men and women had emerged from the terminal and faced him in a semi-circle.

The mental conversation had taken all his attention.

“Jimenez and Del are both at about a six or seven.”

“You can’t see them?”

“It’s too dark, but we can see some lights in the terminal,” Demi said.

“Okay, well there’s about twenty armed and dangerous looking people out here with me. I’m going to try to talk things out peacefully.”

“We’ll be ready, but we could use a visual.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Cal said. He regarded the men and women arrayed in front of him. The group was mixed. Hawaiian, Asian and white. Almost all of them had tribal-style tattoos on their bare arms. “We’re just here for some jet fuel.”

“What’ll you pay?” A giant of a man stepped forward. The tanned skin of his muscled arms was covered with ink.

“Is it really worth anything to you? It’s not like you’re flying planes.”

“This is our place. You think it’s okay for you to just come in here and take from us?”

“Fair… how does a thousand Universal Points sound? Just give me your name and point me to the nearest spire so I can make the transfer.”

Eyes widened.

The amount was significant to them.

Cal watched expressions harden. He hesitantly reached out with his telepathy. He decided that touching their surface thoughts was something he could live with if he could use them to avoid violence.

Instant regret.

He now knew these people for what they were.

“We’ll take those points and that fancy armor of yours,” the big man glanced at the wizened old woman standing behind him, “you’ve got women on that plane,” a statement, not a question, “we’ll take two. Give us that and you can have your fuel and your lives.”

Cal stretched his telepathy into the terminal for one last confirmation.

Slavers and pirates.

“You must be beneath her notice,” Cal said. “That’s why you’re allowed to be here.”

The big man tensed, muscles and veins bulged.

The wizened old woman stepped back towards the rear of the formation and joined two younger people, a man and a woman.

Violent thoughts assaulted Cal from all directions. Even, curiously, from the ocean a few thousand yards to his back.

“Which means, collectively, you all aren’t on my level,” Cal said flatly. “We just need the fuel, but I can’t just leave here knowing that you have slaves in there,” he pointed at the terminal.

The big man roared and transformed, as did several others.

“Shit!” Cal regretted not probing into their thoughts deeper. “They’re… weresharks? I can handle them—”

“Negative on that. We need to fight,” Demi said.

The plane’s door opened and people jumped out.

“What do you want me to do?” Cal floated up out of reach.

“Just give me tactical supremacy and don’t let anyone die.”

“Copy that.” Cal reached out with his telepathy. Dad, they’ve got a lot of slaves inside the terminal. Think you can get in there and bust some heads to keep them safe? I’ll feed you locations and threats.

I’m still not used to this, his dad thought back, sure thing. I’ll take care of them.

His dad jumped down to the tarmac and immediately leapt over everybody.

One of the pirate slavers sent an enormous fireball at him, but it splashed harmlessly against Cal’s telekinetic shield.

Cal watched his dad crash right through one of the terminal’s massive windows.

“Get those magic shields up away from the plane! Focus fire on the weresharks. Pete, move it away now!” Demi barked out commands. The Watch Captain was clad in a Threnosh armor and wielded a recoilless rifle. “Can you get to their back line? We need to disrupt their casters,” she turned to Sgt. Butcher.

“Not with those big monsters in the way,” Sgt. Butcher said.

Cal regarded the huge, fully transformed weresharks standing in front of their mages. The wall of muscle and tough skin didn’t seem to have any problems absorbing the withering gunfire being sent into them.

On his side of the battle field, the R&D team, a woman and two teenagers were busy setting up the portable magic shield generators under the protection of Jake and other mages with their own personal shields up.

The different colors glowed brightly in the darkness.

Hanna stood next to Demi, Threnosh shield ready to block any attacks.

“Aims tell me you’ve got a shot,” Sgt. Butcher said.

“Sorry, sarge, those magic types are walled up nice and tight behind those big boys and girls.”

“Fucking Aims! You’re making us look hella bad in front of the Norcalians,” Mouthy spat.

“You can’t just make up words,” Smores said lightly as the rest of 13th Squad, Rayna’s Rangers, not on the firing line gathered near their sergeant.

“Sgt. Butcher,” Fin began, “I’m not sure, but it think their mages are about to do something big.”

“The kid is right,” Cal said into the radio. “Huge magic power surge incoming.”

“Cease fire!” Demi barked, which allowed Cal to put up a telekinetic dome over everyone except the plane which had taxied a good distance away.

A wall of water rained down from above Cal. Even though he was already a hundred feet above the ground.

It was like getting hit with a building.

He was crushed against his own telekinetic shield as the water washed over a huge area and somehow remained in place.

A giant cube of ocean water sat on the airport tarmac.

Huge dark shapes swirled the water around him.

Sharks.

Brownish skin was streaked with dark stripes.

Tiger sharks, except these were close to 10 meters long according to the readings in Cal’s faceplate.

He knew enough to know that natural sharks didn’t get that big, not even great whites.

Cal turned only to be swallowed up by a gaping, teeth-filled mouth.

Down on the ground his telekinetic shield was begin to crack.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Demi said.

Jake pointed to the rear of the dome. “There’s like a few feet not in this water. I’m assuming Cal’s doing this, so if he can drop that part, we can all run out.”

“Cruces—”

“I heard, watch captain… just give me a second.”

Cal was being chewed by dagger-sharp teeth with tons of bite force behind them. The Threnosh armor was holding up alongside his own natural durability, but it wasn’t comfortable and was definitely terrifying.

He sent a telekinetic spear up into the roof of the shark’s mouth and forced his way free.

Blood bloomed into the clear water, turning it into a murky soup in his vicinity.

He dropped the portion of the telekinetic doom outside the water cube and searched for the ones responsible for what he guessed was a spell.

The group rushed out in an almost orderly fashion.

“Leave it!” Hanna snapped at the R&D group as they frantically packed up the devices they had just been setting up.

“This is one of a kind! We can’t replace it out here!”

The far end of the telekinetic shield tore open. Water rushed in.

Huge weresharks squeezed through, followed by the wizened old woman.

“You will give up all your secrets. The spirits will see to it.” The woman pointed a driftwood staff toward Hanna and the R&D group, who had grabbed everything and were struggling under the weight as they made for the exit.

“Cal, if this is your shield, it’s breaking and I found the one responsible for the ocean being dropped on us,” Hanna said into the helmet comms.

The R&D team suddenly found themselves floating faster than they could run.

“Want me to pull you out of there?” Cal said into the comms.

“How strong are these weresharks?”

“About Class 4, toward the lower end.”

“How about in terms I understand?”

“They can max lift about 4 tons… there’s a measurement scale…” Cal trailed off. The explanation was lame. “You should probably retreat with the others.”

Hanna drew her Threnosh-made longsword and tightened her grip on her shield.

“I need to know where I stand.”

“Okay, break a leg. I’ll monitor the situ— Shit! Motherfucking giant sharks!”

Hanna could see wild swirling in the water beyond the clear telekinetic dome.

The water had seeped above her ankles, she glanced back and saw that it wasn’t flowing out of the hole in the dome.

“So, this water cube is set.”

“Until it is dispersed,” the old woman said. “You appear strong. If you prove yourself you will have an honored place among our warriors.”

The two weresharks charged.

Just like a barreling SUV.

Hanna had experience.

No sweat.

She activated her Skills.

Quicker feet to complement her already masterful footwork allowed her to sidestep to the right of the left wereshark.

Her blade cut deep through thick skin and thicker muscles. A Skill combined with her skill and the Threnosh material.

The wereshark doubled over and frantically tried to cram his guts back into his stomach before the gash healed.

Hanna didn’t give him the time.

Her blade sliced through the fin, skin and muscles like they were warm butter to sever the spinal column.

The wereshark toppled over, legs useless.

The right wereshark slashed a clawed hand that Hanna deflected with her Threnosh shield.

The glancing impact jarred her through the armor.

Such strength.

She couldn’t take a direct blow without getting hurt despite all the protections.

The wereshark’s hands slashed in a frenzy.

Hanna deflected and dodged, dancing around the massive wereshark. The water around her calves barely slowed her down.

Her blade darted out in precise cuts and stabs.

She stepped back.

The wereshark flopped to the ground like a puppet without strings.

“Amazing skill,” the old woman said. “You severed all his tendons. I didn’t even see. What do you want? Join us and I will see to it that you’ll have it.”

Hanna took a large step to one side. “Take it.”

A crack appeared from outside the rapidly filling dome.

The old woman flinched as a bright light flared around her for an instant. She bared her teeth as she retreated back into the water filled space on the other side of the tear.

“No kill. She used a magic shield,” Hanna said into the comms.

“Worth a shot,” Demi replied.

Hanna overheard a loud woman berating the one called Aims for the failure.

The rangers certainly gave themselves weird names.

A loud thud shook the dome.

Cracks spiderwebbed out from several points.

“Damn it,” Hanna muttered.

It was time to test out the Threnosh armor’s purported multi-environment seals.

Water cascaded down as the cracks turned into breaches. Hanna was tossed around. She managed to hold on to her sword and shield.

It was startlingly clear, just like the water out in the nearby bay, which gave her a perfect view of the massive tiger shark swimming straight for her like a torpedo.

Its teeth-filled mouth was big enough to swallow her with one bite.

Hanna choked down the panic.

All her Skills meant that she could swing her sword almost as fast underwater as she could on land.

“Power Slash!” she screamed as she brought her sword down in front of her, high to low.

The Threnosh blade cut into the shark’s head with only a little resistance.

The giant creature’s own momentum added to the devastating damage.

Blood and organs swirled around Hanna as she bisected her way through most of the shark’s massive bulk.

“Not gonna lie, but that was one of the cooler things I’ve seen,” Cal said into the comms.

“Can you get me out of here?” Hanna tried not to look at the pieces of shark guts stuck to the front of her faceplate.

“Yup, I’m done here too.”

Hanna felt herself being pulled up.

“Sharks are like one of my top three greatest fears.”

“What are the other two?”

“Snakes and butt worms.”

“I don’t even—” Hanna shot Cal a glare as the two of them rose up out of the water.

Weresharks leapt out after them, but Cal telekinetically shoved them down.

“Yeah, I, uh, forgot that I was afraid of them,” Cal shrugged.

“Now what?”

“We wait. The others seem to have a plan.”

The others were gathered a few hundred yards away from the massive cube of ocean water.

“They’re clear,” Demi said. “Are you sure about this?”

“It’s a magnificent spell. Turn the battlefield into one where you have the complete advantage. If it wasn’t for Cal, we’d be dead. Unfortunately for our enemies by staying within their summoned domain they have exposed a vulnerability that I believe we can exploit.”

“Goddamn it, Smores, you talk more than my grandma used to do when she had one too many,” Mouthy said.

“Get on with it,” Sgt. Butcher said.

“Electricity. A spell large enough and…” Smores opened his hands out wide. “I do believe we have one capable on this joint task force.”

“I got it,” Jake said.

The big man pulled a laptop out of his backpack and booted it up.

“One spell coming right up.” His fingers danced on the keys. “How strong?”

“As strong as you can manage,” Smores said.

“This’ll fry it,” Jake sighed and glanced over at the R&D team.

“We have spares,” one of them said.

“Great! You can’t yell at me then.” Jake hit the enter key. “Shock!”

A bolt of lighting arced from the laptop into the cube of water.

Muttered curses from several temporarily blinded people filled the air.

The cube suddenly lost cohesion, dispersing thousands of pounds of water in every direction.

“Shit!” Cal threw up a hasty telekinetic wall to protect the terminal.

“Ice Wall. Ice Wall.” Smores did the same to protect the group with a wedge to send most of the water around them.

When the water cleared bodies were strewn on the tarmac.

“Cruces?” Demi said into the comms.

“Non weresharks are all dead. So are the giant sharks. The weresharks are tougher. Mostly still alive,” Cal said.

“We can’t take prisoners.”

“They’re slaver scum, but I’m not comfortable with outright execution.”

“We can do it,” Sgt. Butcher said.

“It’s your call.” Cal didn’t want to touch that decision.

He focused his attention on the interior of the terminal as the rangers moved out under Sgt. Butcher’s orders.

The the woman had picked out a fitting name.

He watched, not physically, as his dad and one unexpected ally fought to defeat the rest of the slaver pirates and keep the caged and chained people safe.

Phillip Cruces found himself at the bottom of a pile of giant half-man, half-shark individuals.

It wasn’t something he had ever foreseen for himself. Even in the post-spires world.

Still, it wasn’t that bad.

Sharp claws and teeth barely scratched his superhumanly tough skin.

Though, they were shredding his polo shirt and tactical cargo pants.

He slowly moved the roiling death ball around him away from the cages filled with people on the other side of the terminal.

It wouldn’t do to accidentally hurt them in the fight.

One look at them had filled him with anger.

He didn’t understand it.

People should be coming together. Working together against the monsters.

Instead… this.

He judged that he had dragged the half dozen weresharks far enough.

Superhuman muscles surged with pure physical power as he exploded out with fists flying.

Cal had said that the weresharks were Class 4 according to Eron’s scale. Which meant that they were significantly weaker than him.

So, he pulled his punches.

Despite their crimes he didn’t want to kill them.

They weren’t monster. They were still people, probably.

Each punch broke triangular teeth and massive jaws.

He grabbed a tree-trunk sized arm and snapped it like a twig.

Darkness enclosed around his head.

Teeth sawed around his neck.

He jerked his head lose along with dozens of said teeth.

As the weresharks were left broken and battered on the ground, they began to heal right before his eyes.

“Were-types heal fast unless you overwhelm their ability, old man,” a young Japanese woman crouched above on one of the crossbeams underneath the ceiling.

“You’re… Rino, right? With the state government? I’m Phillip, Cal’s dad.”

“I know. You shouldn’t pull your punches. Smash their brains or rip of their limbs, best way to kill them.”

“We don’t need to kill them.”

“Not if you want to keep the enslaved safe,” Rino pointed toward the far end of the terminal to another set of enclosures.

Phillip grimaced.

More slaver pirates were rushing toward the cages.

“They’re probably going to use them as human shields,” Rino said.

“I don’t want to kill them,” Phillip said flatly.

“Not used to fighting humans,” Rino nodded. “Going by how strong you are… you took on the strongest monsters. You probably just slapped people a little and knocked them out. That’s not going to cut it here. These weresharks are trash. They don’t deserve to live,” she visibly bristled.

The weresharks were already starting to push themselves up off the floor even as rough voices mingled with frightened screams from the other end of the terminal.

Then everything stilled.

The weresharks were immobile. As were the other slaver pirates in the distance.

“What the hell is this?” Rino said.

Don’t worry, Dad. I’ve got them. Why don’t you secure the human slaver pirates? The others are going to join you shortly. They’ll deal with the weresharks.

Phillip didn’t like the way his son’s voice sounded even if Cal wasn’t physically speaking.

Now, Northern Philippines

“You asked to see me, Datu.”

“At ease, Cristo.”

The two men were a study in contrast.

One, was over 50, short and fat with thin gray hair. He leaned forward on his desk. The mayoral office was a far cry from a throne room despite his Class.

The other was close to two decades younger. Tall and lean, danger radiated off him, even though he stood with legs spread slightly, hands behind back, as relaxed as he would ever allow himself.

The military was in tatters.

The gray fog that had enveloped the entirety of Metro Manila had sounded its death knell.

Any numbers that remained served as the personal armies of dozens of petty warlords scattered all over the country.

“I have a job for you,” Datu Dantel Lontoc said briskly.

“Your orders?” Cristo replied curtly.

“The aswangs grow bolder. Every night they take more and more of my people in Naguilian. Then they disappear into the forests. They walk like any of us during the day. We can’t find them. We need to find them!” the datu slammed a pudgy fist on his desk.

“You want me to track them back to their hidden village?” Cristo frowned. He had been, was still, an LRR soldier. Counter-terrorism. He had done dozens of operations in the thick rainforests of Mindanao and the smaller southern islands. Terrorists had been nothing compared to the aswang and their varied supernatural powers. “I will leave immediately.” Orders were to be followed.

“You misunderstand me. That would only waste you, my best soldier. I understand you know enhanced interrogation techniques.”

“Yes.”

“Then use them. The prisoner must know where the rest of her kind is hiding. Make her talk. Whatever it takes.”

“Yes, sir,” Cristo saluted.

Several miles to the south, on the opposite side of the Cagayan River from the city in question, two young men crouched beneath the thick rainforest canopy.

It was eerily silent as if the animals could sense what one of the young men was doing.

The other felt a tickling sensation across the back of his neck.

The animals were silent, but they were watching.

As were, no doubt, the monsters.

Daylight meant they were safe from the worst of them, such as the aswangs.

But he didn’t want to take any chances.

He grabbed the small, shrunken head from his belt and drew from it until it shriveled into dust.

He took the binturong’s keen senses to help him keep a watch out for danger.

Next he grabbed a serpent’s head. From which he took quickness for both his reactions and hand speed.

“Ambrose, when you use your Skills you interfere with my spells.”

“Sorry, Rai, but I was operating under the assumption that you wanted to stay alive while you talked to the spirits.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. This spot is another bust. The spirits don’t remember any aswangs passing through here lately.”

“Define ‘lately’.”

Rai uncrossed his legs and stood. He was a full head taller than his companion. “Spirits don’t exactly have watches, but it feels like weeks if not months.”

“So… not the recent kidnappings and killings,” Ambrose sighed as he bent down to take his Igorot axe from where he had planted the pointed portion of its wide, curved edge. The cord-wrapped wooden handle was reassuring in his calloused palm. “I think Datu Lontoc doesn’t like you. Sending you out here by yourself where any animal or monster can get you. Not to mention the aswangs.”

“You’re here,” Rai pointed out.

“That’s cause I came along as your friend. I suppose I’m technically AWOL,” Ambrose grinned.

“The datu doesn’t believe me when I say that the spirits can’t be bent to his will. I can only ask, not command. Unless I’m willing to pay the price and I’m definitely not going to do that to help him with his performance problems,” Rai frowned.

“He should just use Viagra or ground out bull balls like all the other oldies,” Ambrose said.

“Let’s head over to the next spot,” Rai sighed.

Back at Ilagan, Cristos made his way past the barracks training area and to his room to gather what he needed before he went to the church.

The clack of hardwood sticks rang out across the dirt-covered grounds.

“Good. Never stop moving. Mind your lines. Be conscious of your angles. Attack and defend at the same time. That’s why we use two hands. Flow from one to the other like the river winding down this valley.”

Jovita Vargas was perhaps the best hand to hand fighter in the army. Yet, she for the past month had found herself stuck training the newest conscripts.

Her commander had drank a little too much and had gotten handsy.

She had shattered his wrist with a flick of her own.

The memory filled her with a warm, happy feeling.

She smiled as she trapped the recruit’s sticks with her own. She twisted, gently, and forced the young man to let go of his weapons lest his wrists break.

“Grappling and disarming are just as important as the striking.” Jovita twirled her sticks around her as she walked back to the starting position. “Again,” she barked.

The recruit rubbed his wrist with a grimace, but picked up his sticks and continued.

Several blocks away, in the basement of an old church, an iron-barred cage st.

It was small. There was only enough space for the young woman inside to sit. She couldn’t even lay down fully.

Not that the thick iron shackles chaining her wrists and ankles together would allow that.

She was dirty. Her clothes were in tatters. Dried blood was all over her. Yet, her long black hair somehow remained luscious.

The dried blood on her face was a blemish on her dusky skin, but did nothing to take away from her perfect beauty.

Ginessa prayed for salvation.

She hadn’t asked for her fate.

The gabunan hadn’t given her a choice.

Crude wooden crucifixes lined the cage.

The vinegar-tongued priest had placed them there himself all the while railing at Ginessa for being Satan’s whore.

Little did he know that the crucifixes only brought her comfort.

They reminded her of her grandmother.

The door to the basement opened and soft-footed steps descended down the worm-eaten stairs.

Ginessa shut her eyes as the light was suddenly turned on.

A soldier stood in front of her cage.

Tall, lean, threat in his eyes.

“You have information we need,” the soldier fingered the thin, double-edged knife that seemed to suddenly appear in his hands, “you will provide it.”