Mist of Doom

6. On the Move

Mika knew Brandon wouldn't let her and Orion deal with the crystalline dragonflies, so she only stood in silence. For some reason, her left leg moved by itself to knee Brandon's stomach- no, palm.

"Should've known that you're that sharp," Orion mumbled. "But at least I tried. Sorry for hijacking your leg, Mika."

Brandon released Mika's left leg, picked up his coffin and charged at the swarm. The humongous bludgeon slammed onto the insects and smashed them to smithereens.

A dragonfly sneaked through the slaughter and flew towards Mika.

"Brandon," Orion called out, "look at this."

"Wha-" Mika's left hand moved by itself to seize the dragonfly by its head. The insect screeched and thrashed, but the tightening grip crushed its skull to pieces and silenced it forever. It dropped down headless, and her hand tossed the remains of its head at the corpse.

"Orion-" Her eyes widened at her left foot, which went to stomp the headless insect by itself.

"I apologize for hijacking again," Orion murmured. "I thought Brandon would see this display of power and be impressed, but he didn't hear me. I guess he's just busy."

More like he didn't want to see it, Orion. Mika watched the last few dragonflies shatter courtesy of Brandon's swinging coffin. He could actually spare a few seconds to look at us because those insects were nothing for him.

"Anyway, you've seen how strong you've become, right? Trust me. You can even lift Brandon's coffin now."

Mika grinned, but Brandon - who was approaching with the coffin's chains wrapping around his arms - only frowned. He certainly heard about her newfound power; even if he didn't, he couldn't possibly miss the crushed dragonfly beneath her foot. She took a closer look at his scowl, which spelled out, "I taught you the basics of fighting, not Orion. Superpower is useless in the hands of a person who can't fight."

"I have to thank you, too," Mika told Brandon with a smile. "If not for you, I would've panicked when a dragonfly flew to me."

Brandon picked Mika up and rushed to the exit. His kick turned the door into a doormat.

A hazy blanket of white greeted them outside. A silver-skinned giant - or rather, bodybuilder on steroids - awaited them in the distance, its height almost equal to a one-story building. Mika had once seen this enemy - the orgman, or "Reorganized Man." The name came from how the low-quality Seed alien in the body transformed one into a mindless tool of destruction: it reorganized one's mind and physical appearance.

"Could you say 'low-class Methuselah folk' instead?" Orion quipped in her head. "It's a mouthful, I know, but the word 'alien' really bugs me."

Brandon set Mika down and brandished his coffin. The barrel of an assault rifle slid out of the weapon container, and bullets sprayed out of it. The incoming orgman - now a piece of humanoid Swiss cheese - stopped in its tracks and collapsed. Its body exploded into silver dust upon crashing to the ground.

The barrel retracted into the smoldering coffin, and the container's chains went to bind themselves around Brandon's upper arms.

"Your weapon is overheating," Orion said. "Take a break, Brandon. Let us deal with-"

Brandon seized Mika's blue hand and gave it a death glare. Silence enveloped the area, at which Mika gulped. It felt as though the fuzzy white tendrils - like a knot of snakes - were slithering along her skin...

Suddenly, her palm shot out a huge ray of light. Brandon pulled away with a groan, his hands making their way to his squinted eyes.

"Orion!" Mika hugged Brandon. "What have you done? You hurt him!"