Miss Marathon Read online

  There. Parasites. That was a good one. Must have been, McMurphy walked off without another word.

  Maggie ran into the hanger and Patty grabbed her up with her capture beam. Moments later they were airborne and headed towards danger.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Wraith and his two grandchildren, Misty and Damon, found themselves on a side street near the Bay City Bowl. They’d been evacuated along with everyone else in the Bowl. The kids were upset initially, they were excited to see Miss Marathon’s brother jump a line of busses. Now that they’d realized there was a real superhuman emergency happening they were ecstatic. And pleading.

  “Come on grandpa we are already here.” Damon was whining. Wraith hated to hear it, the kid was 16 years old and still whining like a child. Surely when Wraith was that age he hadn’t sounded like that. Surely not.

  “He’s right grandpa. We should help.” And there goes Misty. The younger one, but always trying to be the mature one.

  How exhausting.

  Even with his power to stay young and energetic, having two teenagers was a drain. Two superhuman teenagers, both of whom thought it was their duty to go off and save every treed kitten and lost puppy, was even more of a burden.

  This time they might be right. “Okay, we can save people but stay away from the monster, let the military handle that.”

  The kids cheered and started powering up. Damon doubled, then tripled in size, turning into a hulking red beast. He flew off, fire escaping his lips as he yelled in his excitement. Misty turned into a cloud and enveloped Wraith, carrying him skyward as well.

  The kids were going to have a blast, born heroes. Wraith would rather someone else did the hero work. He prayed Miss Marathon would show up soon.

  As they ascended above tree level Wraith could see the city. The devastation was shocking. Fires were burning, buildings and roads destroyed. Off in the distance he could see the giant man walking towards the sea, and downtown.

  Damon was circling in an expanding pattern, search and rescue style. He waived and dove toward the ground. Too fast, as always, but he was a good flyer. He almost always slowed before he hit the ground.

  Misty carried Wraith over to assist their first casualty.

  It was Cannon.

  He was unconscious and embedded a few feet into the ground, smashed. His body was intact, as far as Wraith could tell. Wraith couldn’t tell if he was alive. Unlike most people Cannon wasn’t exactly flesh and blood, detecting a pulse was problematic. Wraith touched him and could sense no major physical trauma. Slowly, over about a minute, Wraith transferred life force into Cannon.

  Cannon began to move. Then to groan.

  He opened his eyes and said, “Wraith? Where did you...never mind. How long was I down?”

  Wraith said, “Not long. The giant man is walking towards downtown.”

  “I found you,” Damon cut in. His voice in demon form was loud and growly. Cannon looked over at him. Then over at Misty.

  “Wraith. I need your guys’ help to link back up with my team, do you think Damon could...”

  “Absolutely not.” Wraith was firm. His kids could help save people but not help in the fight.

  Cannon grinned and sat up. “I was going to ask if I can borrow his cellphone to contact Maggie. We need to be ready.”

  “Ready for what?” Wraith asked.

  Misty answered before Cannon could, “For whatever it is Miss Marathon is going to do.”

  * * *

  Patty gained altitude and edged towards downtown while Maggie looked over the situation. She wasn’t exactly sure where the giant man had gone, or exactly how big he was. And where the heck was Cannon?

  She needed some eyes on the scene. Luckily she had them.

  She broadcast, “Cordel, this is Maggie and the USS Patton do you read me?”

  “Yes Miss Marathon, loud and clear. I am keeping station on the giant man. He is impervious to our weapons, so I am shadowing him.”

  “And Cannon?” That’s what she really wanted to know. Saving the city was fine but first she had to see to Cannon.

  “Unknown. There was an explosion near the Bay City Bowl and that’s the last we saw or heard from him. The other troopers are sweeping the area now.”

  Cordel paused a moment, then cut in on the private command channel, “Maggie he’s tough, the toughest man on the planet by a long ways. I’m sure he’s fine. He probably just broke his radio.”

  “Yeah. He does that.” He did. Sometimes. That didn’t mean Maggie would quit worrying. A signal came in on Maggie’s cell phone, it was Wraith, she asked for speaker phone, the phone obliged, “Hello Wraith, I’m a little busy right now.”

  “Maggie this is Cannon.”

  Maggie sat down. She hadn’t noticed she’d been walking around the bridge, back and forth. Agitated. Relief washed over her.

  “Cannon are you alright? The troopers are looking for you.”

  “Yes I’m fine. I have Wraith and his kids here with me. Everyone is fine. I’m linking up with the Jaunt Troopers now.”

  “That’s great. I was worried.” Maggie had more to say but gushing over the phone was not her style. She’d wait until later, when she had Cannon alone. She’d gush then.

  Cannon said, “Okay Miss Marathon. This is your show. What’s the plan?”

  * * *

  Maggie didn’t have a plan. Make sure Cannon and everyone else was safe, that was the extent of her planning. What next?

  “Patty, do you think you can stab that guy with your beak?” Head butt the bad guy to death. Why not? It had worked before when Patty attacked the Brootstone.

  “I suppose I could try. He’s certainly big enough.” Patty nosed down, headed toward downtown where the giant was wreaking havoc.

  As they cleared the cloudbank, a constant nuisance to sun loving Bay City residents like Maggie, they could see the entirety of downtown. The giant man was walking, just walking, but in doing so he was crushing things. He kicked over something near a gas station and the whole thing blew up. The giant man kept walking.

  He was big, at least 100 feet tall. Good thing Patty was bigger.

  The USS Patton had started out as the Jimmy Carter, a Sea-Wolf class submarine. Nuclear powered. 450 feet long full of Harpoon missiles, torpedoes, mines and all the other goodies the military could cram in. Nukes too. Can’t forget those.

  Since installation of the alien drive and a series of massive refits, Patty’s length was down to about 350 feet but with a 50 foot spike on her nose. So 400 feet overall. Plenty big enough to take on a 100 foot man. The problem was Patty had no armaments anymore. Once Patty started talking the military mucky mucks had a conniption and took all the ordinance off.

  But Patty still had her spike. A 50 foot long tusk growing out over her nose. Like a narwhal whale. Patty got the idea from reading 50,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

  “Patty, get into position for the Jules Verne maneuver.” Maggie liked that joke, trying to keep it light was how she hid her nerves.

  The Patton vibrated, “Maggie I’m ready, of course, but shouldn’t we talk to him first? Ask him to stop or something? That’s what Captain Picard does.”

  Of course. Patty was right. Star Trek nonsense aside, you shouldn’t just go in for an attack without negotiating first. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding? This guy wasn’t exactly going out of his way to smash buildings. It was more him stumbling into them as he walked toward the bay.

  “Okay Patty. Good idea. Should have put you in charge. Get us close to him so he can hear us. Put me on the loud speakers.”

  The USS Patton swept low, hovering over the giant man, just out of reach.

  Maggie put on her best authoritative tone. “Big man on the street. This is Miss Marathon and the USS Patton. You are causing a lot of destruction. I’m going to have to ask you to stop.”

  The big man did stop. So that was good. The USS Patton was above him, over his right shoulder. He turned to look at them. Smiling.

  Wel
l. Maybe talking works.

  The big man jumped into the air, an impossibly high jump, wrapped his arms around Patty and dragged her down.

  Maggie was jostled to the deck as Patty yelled out. The submarine spaceship did her best to gain altitude but the big man had her. He wrestled her to the ground and pinned her underneath. Patty was longer and heavier but the big man was fast, was able to get his hands around her and slam her.

  Metal ripped and screamed as the giant man tore the USS Patton apart. He stood on top of her and hammered down with his fists like a gorilla. Her hull was smashed in a dozen places. Finally, the big man began stomping on her.

  Patty’s back was broken. She lay crying. As much as a submarine could cry. Maggie cried too, pinned in the wreckage.

  * * *

  Damon carried Cannon toward downtown and the big man. Cannon’s jet pack had been smashed along with most of his gear. He was surrounded by Cordel and his Jaunt Troopers, with Wraith and Misty a short distance behind.

  Somewhere below him, Chris Cole, Maggie’s brother, was racing with his motorcycle toward the crisis. His big haired girlfriend, Anne, was with him on the bike. Cannon told them they wouldn’t be needed, but Wraith seemed to think Anne could be useful. Plus, Chris was Maggie’s brother, that whole family seemed pathologically incapable of staying out of a crisis or doing what he told them to do. They weren’t big on obedience and minding their own business. To a Cole, everything was their business.

  Cannon and Damon were flying around a pillar of smoke from a burning gas station when they saw the big man leap onto the Patton. Cannon was too far away to stop it.

  “Damon. Max speed. Straight at the fucker. Drop me right on him.”

  Damon growled acknowledgment and picked up speed. Even when carrying Cannon’s considerable weight he was much faster than the Jaunt Troopers. A hell of a flyer. He dropped Cannon onto the big man’s back.

  At that point Cannon didn’t know what was next. He hadn’t thought it through. He knew he had to get the big man off the Patton. He grabbed onto the man’s flesh in order to anchor himself, so he didn’t fall off. He started tearing at the man’s skin. His skin was tough, rubbery, but diamond hard hands and super enhanced strength won out. Cannon started shredding the man’s back.

  The big man spun around trying to get at Cannon, swiping with his hands. Cannon was in the perfect spot though, the man couldn’t reach him. He kept tearing, imagining himself digging through the thing’s body and ripping out his heart.

  It didn’t last though. The big man got smart and scraped his back across a building, tearing Cannon away. At least he’d gotten him off the Patton, hopefully Maggie was alright.

  Cannon landed on top of a car. No real damage. The big man moved away, stomping down the street, leaving the USS Patton on the ground, broken.

  Damon was still airborne, harassing the big man, shooting fireballs from his mouth. The big man swatted at him like a bee. Damon stayed well away, firing from a safe distance. Cordel and the rest of the guys showed up as well, firing their machine guns at him. The big man moved away, starting to jog. Damon and the Jaunt Troopers followed him.

  In his wake was more destruction than Cannon had ever seen. Turned over cars, broken water mains, and in the center of it all lay the battered remains of the USS Patton. Twisted and nearly unrecognizable from all the damage.

  The USS Patton ran on nuclear power, there was a good chance that containment had been breached or that a meltdown might occur. Cannon thought of this but mostly thought of Maggie. He couldn’t see how anyone could have survived in that mess.

  Maggie rang him on Wraith’s phone, he’d commandeered it. He needn’t have worried. This was Miss Marathon, it takes more than a giant pummeling to put her down.

  “Maggie are you alright?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Patty’s not. Get over here fast.”

  * * *

  Maggie looked around her, the bridge of the Patton had turned into a ball. A protective cocoon. Patty had done that at the last moment, protecting Maggie until the end.

  And the end it was. Maggie couldn’t hear Patty in her mind. It was like a piece of her had been ripped away. Patty’s constant presence had been comforting, normal. Something she had taken for granted. Now that she was silent, Maggie was confused, incomplete. Distraught.

  “Wake up Patty. Please. I know you can. I need you. You can’t go like this.”

  Maggie concentrated with everything she could on Patty’s mind voice, where was it? She couldn’t find it. Maggie dug through her own consciousness. Losing track of where she was. But there was nothing. Patty was gone. That wasn’t her only problem.

  The big man was coming back around. He was picking up cars and whatever else and throwing them at Damon and the Jaunt Troopers. They couldn’t control his movements or drive him off. He was probably coming back to smash Cannon, again, for ripping up his back.

  Anne and Maggie’s brother, Chris, showed up as Cannon was pulling wreckage off her. Wraith and Misty were there too, helping to pull her out. They had to hurry, the big man was coming back.

  Then Maggie heard a voice, in her head but far away, “Maggie? I’m here. Can you help me. I can barely feel anything.”

  Maggie laid down on a piece of the Patton’s body, her cheek touching it. “I’m here Patty. I don’t know what to do. Can you fix yourself? You’ve been getting good at that.”

  The response was barely a whisper, “I think I can. I fixed my reactor, so at least I won’t kill the whole city. I can feel everything. I’m so broken.”

  Cannon and the rest were trying to pull Maggie to safety but she shrugged them off. The big man was coming this way, stomping on everything in his path, enraged. Patty was Maggie’s best friend, ever, and more of a daughter to her than she was ever likely to have. Patty lay helpless, with a big damned brute coming to finish her off.

  Patty needed saving.

  Maggie sprinted toward the giant man. Cannon, Blondie, Chris on his motorcycle, Wraith and Misty all followed.

  Maggie was the fastest runner on the planet, by far. She outdistanced everyone towards the big man. She had to get his attention. Lead him away while, hopefully, Patty rebuilt herself out of her shattered body parts.

  Damon swooped low to take a shot at blowing fire into the big man’s eyes. He was distracted, Maggie took the chance. She darted in and kicked him with everything her artificial legs could muster. It didn’t seem like much to Maggie but the big man howled.

  He looked down at her, trying to grab her. Maggie ran and the big man chased her. He was much faster than he looked, but Maggie was faster. She poured on the speed running toward the bay. Even Damon had trouble keeping up, but the big man was right on her heels.

  Maggie weaved her way through cars and trucks, abandoned as people fled inside. The big man ran straight through them, kicking them and tossing them aside as he bore down upon Maggie. Something, probably a tire, flew toward Maggie and hit her shoulder, knocking her off balance.

  She careened off a car and into a wall. Everything went black.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Patty lay, quite literally, in a heap. In pain. Helpless. Then she felt Maggie get hit. She felt Maggie’s pain and then felt nothing at all. It was terrible. The worst feeling the USS Patton had ever felt, or even conceived of feeling.

  A world where a feeling that horrible existed was not a world in which Patty wanted to live. She gave up trying to reconstruct herself. She quit on life, feeling her reactor start to cool. To power down. Patty welcomed the coming nothingness.

  “Patty...hurry...I’m hurt pretty bad...” Maggie’s mind came through, bright as the sun. She wasn’t quite dead, but she was hurt. She needed help.

  The USS Patton willed everything she had into reconstruction. Depression at the thought of losing Maggie turned to rage. She kicked herself for almost giving up. Goddamned huge man and his stupid bullshit.

  Anger literally boiled out of the Patton as her reactor heated up, cooling syst
ems released steam, keeping pace with the nuclear fire. Patty pulled herself together piece by piece, tons of steel and wiring reconstructing, healing.

  Why rebuild herself into a submarine though? That shape had not been useful when fighting the big man before. It had been a liability, the giant had been able to grab her around the middle and throw her to the pavement. No. A submarine shape was not the right one. Not for this fight.

  Maybe a ball shape, with spikes? Maybe a pyramid? With the gravity drive powered by her fission reactor Patty could achieve flight, even orbit, with whatever shape she desired. Patty had watched a million space ship shows, she could choose any design she wanted.

  There was only one real choice though.

  * * *

  Maggie’s nose bled all over her bright yellow suit. She’d hit pretty hard, was lucky she wasn’t dead. If she lived through this she would have to incorporate a helmet into her uniform.

  The fight with the big man had moved down the street a few hundred yards. She could see Damon’s fire blowing through the air, stinging the big man. It all seemed pretty useless. They’d all be dead or exhausted way before the giant was defeated.

  Wraith, with Misty carrying him in her cloud, floated over to her. Wraith bent over her as Misty materialized beside him.

  “Is she okay grandpa? Please say she is.” Misty, Maggie’s self-professed biggest fan, hopped from foot to foot over Wraith’s shoulder.

  “She’ll be fine, one moment...” Wraith put his hand on Maggie’s forehead and suddenly her aches were gone and her mind cleared.

  “Thanks Wraith.”

  Maggie paused a moment, thinking, if only she could...Maggie’s thought was interrupted by something unimaginable.

  A giant version of herself. 10 stories tall, made of metal, carrying a giant sword.

  The Patton called down. “Hey. I figured this shape would be better than a submarine shape. Do you like it?”